Boston Mayor Apologizes to Black Men Falsely Accused in 1989 Murder Of White Pregnant Woman
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu apologized Wednesday (Dec. 20) on behalf of the city to Willie Bennett and Alan Swanson, two Black men falsely accused in the 1989 murder of a White woman.
Wu’s apology came after The Boston Globe and an HBO docuseries recently resurfaced the decades-old case that further deteriorated racial divisions across the city.
“I want to say to Mr. Swanson and Mr. Bennett, the entire Bennett family, and Boston’s entire Black community, I am so sorry for what you endured that day,” Wu said, according to Boston radio station WGBH.
“I am so sorry for the pain that you have carried for so many years. What was done to you was unjust, unfair, racist and wrong, and this apology is long overdue.”
In actuality, Charles Stuart fatally shot his pregnant wife, Carol DiMaiti Stuart, in the head on Oct. 23, 1989, and blamed the murder on a Black man. Charles Stuart and his wife were white.
Boston police ignored the skepticism raised about Stuart’s story. He claimed that a Black man with a “a raspy” voice and wearing a tracksuit carjacked him and his wife.
Stuart told investigators that the assailant forced them to drive to a Black housing project before shooting him in the stomach and Carol in the head. Their child was delivered by cesarean section but died days later.
But Stuart’s false claims eventually unraveled. He committed suicide by jumping from Boston’s Tobin Bridge into the Mystic River.
During their investigation, the police went on a rampage throughout the city’s Black neighborhoods for several months to find the alleged killer.
According to WGBH, officers targeted Black men, randomly stopping and questioning them on the streets and removing them from their vehicles and homes to solve the crime.
Investigators arrested Swanson and Bennett. Stuart falsely identified Bennett as the murderer.
“Black fathers, Black uncles, Black brothers and Black sons. If you were a parent or a child or a partner or a friend, if you knew and loved a Black man in Boston, you feared for his life,” Wu said at the press conference, according to GBH.
Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, who is Black, apologized on behalf of the department he now leads.
“As commissioner, I apologize for the hurt, pain and suffering experienced by everyone affected by the Boston Police Department for their poor investigation and overzealous behavior and more likely unconstitutional behavior,” Cox said, also apologizing to Carol Stuart’s family for the department’s “lack of professionalism,” according to GBH.
The racist perception Boston bears may explain why the police, politicians and local media didn’t hesitate to believe Stuart’s lie despite reasons for skepticism.
Some people, especially Black Bostonians, had doubts about Stuart’s carjacking story, including the route he claimed the shooter took to the housing project.
Still, media outlets published biased stories, the district attorney called for the reinstatement of the death penalty, and the mayor led the clammer for the police to arrest the Black suspect.
Swanson and Bennett received death threats and spent weeks behind bars before authorities acknowledged that Stuart lied.
Willie Bennett’s nephew, Joey Bennett, stood with other family members alongside Wu at the press conference.
“It takes great humility and courage to acknowledge someone else's wrongdoings and to try to make amends,” Joey Bennett said. “Your apology is accepted. Yes, the apology is accepted.”
Willie Bennett now suffers with dementia. Boston settled his lawsuit in 1995 for $12,500, but his family may seek to reopen the case for a larger settlement.
