Eleanor Bumpurs

Encyclopedia : E : EL : ELE : Eleanor Bumpurs

Eleanor Bumpurs was an African-American grandmother who was shot dead by police trying to evict her from her home on October 29, 1984. The NYPD was evicting her because she owed $96.85 in rent. Eleanor had trouble moving, and had arthritis and diabetes. The police were also informed before entering her apartment that she was senile, and not fully aware of what was going on.

Prior to the eviction, Eleanor had related to her daughter Mary that someone in the building was harassing her, Mary advised her to keep the door locked. On the morning of October 29th, the police were unable to get Eleanor to come to her apartment door when they knocked. They drilled out the lock, and through the hole it created they could see the 66-year old in her living room, holding a kitchen knife. The officers then proceeded to kick down her door in order to evict her. Officer Stephen Sullivan fired two shots into her, killing her instantly.

After the case was reported in the press, there was a popular uproar over the shooting. Officer Sullivan was brought before a grand jury for manslaughter, which dismissed the charges against him.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.