Boston Mayor apologizes to two Black men who were falsely arrested in 1989

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On Wednesday, December 20th, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu apologized to Alan Swanson and Willie Bennett, two Black men who were falsely arrested in connection with the 1989 murder of Carol Stuart.

Boston Mayor Apologizes

Swanson was joined by members of Bennett’s family at City Hall Wednesday. According to the Boston Globe, Bennett now has dementia. While there, Mayor Michelle Wu officially apologized on behalf of the city.

“I am so sorry for what you endured,” Wu said. “As a result, our Black residents suffered, as a result Alan Swanson suffered, Willie Bennett suffered, and their families continue to suffer. What was done to you was unfair, unjust, racist and wrong.”

The incident

In 1989, Boston police officers received a 911 call from Charles “Chuck” Stuart, informing police that he and his wife, Carol, who was pregnant at the time, had been shot during an attempted carjacking. Officers quickly located the car and found the couple wounded. Carol had been shot in the head and her husband had also been shot.

Carol Stuart was taken to a nearby hospital where her baby was delivered through a cesarean section. Unforunately, Stuart and the baby later succumbed to their injuries.

Chuck Stuart told police they were attacked by a Black man. The identification sparked an intense police “stop and frisk” campaign throughout Boston’s Black neighborhoods, firing up a city already rife with racial tension.

Swanson and Bennett were ultimately arrested for Stuart’s murder and jailed for three weeks. But it turned out the two men were wrongfully accused of the crime.

In a recent investigation by the Boston Globe, the outlet found that at the time, many officers already knew Stuart’s initial description of his attacker was a lie.

In January 1990, Stuart’s brother admitted to the police that Chuck was the mastermind behind the murder as part of an insurance fraud scheme, falsely attributing the attack to a Black man.

Life after

Bennett sued the city and his mother received a settlement of $12,500 in 1995. Swanson said he remains destitute as a result of the wrongful accusations and arrest.

“I need housing, reparations, I don’t have anything,” said Swanson. “I’m still homeless and still in the same position.”