The killing of Bernard Whitehurst and subsequent police cover-up exposed systemic misconduct in Montgomery, Alabama, leading to officer resignations and a 2012 city acknowledgment of wrongdoing.
Key Facts
- Date of shooting
- December 2, 1975
- Officers forced to resign/fired
- 8
- Officers convicted
- 0
- Body exhumed
- Six months after shooting
- City acknowledgment of wrongdoing
- 2012
- Historic markers placed
- 2 (2013 and 2015)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
On December 2, 1975, Montgomery police officer Donald Foster pursued a suspect in the robbery of a neighborhood grocery store. Foster shot Bernard Whitehurst, Jr. in the back, later claiming he believed Whitehurst was the robbery suspect. Officers then planted a gun on the victim and filed a false report stating Whitehurst had fired first.
Whitehurst was shot in the back and killed. The initial police report falsely claimed he had fired at officers, and the body was quickly embalmed without autopsy before the family was notified. A subsequent investigation by a local newspaper and attorney Donald Watkins prompted the district attorney to order an exhumation, which confirmed the fatal shot entered from the back, contradicting official accounts.
Perjury indictments were issued against three officers, eight officers were dismissed or resigned, and the mayor and Director of Public Safety also resigned. No officer was convicted of a crime. In 2012 the City of Montgomery formally acknowledged wrongdoing, though no compensation was paid to Whitehurst's family. Two historic markers were later installed to commemorate the incident.