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CRIME STORIES: BLACK AND BLUE (TV)

Summary

One in this series of programs exploring true crimes and criminals. This episode, introduced by Richard Belzer and hosted by June Grasso, explores the controversial 1994 case of a police officer who opened fire on a fellow officer who was working undercover in the middle of a New York City subway station. The episode is comprised of video reenactments of the shooting, courtroom footage, testimony from police experts and spokesmen, and extensive interviews with both men -- the shooter, Officer Peter Del-Debbio, and the victim, Officer Desmond Robinson. Each gets a chance to explain his take on what happened the night of the shooting: Del-Debbio says he saw Robinson running alongside a suspect who had just discharged a shotgun in a subway car, and he shot him several times. Del-Debbio's lawyers argue that Robinson was not wearing the "color of the day" (explained as a "bandanna or headband of a certain color that tells fellow officers that you are working undercover"), but Robinson's lawyers counter with the evidence that Robinson was shot four times in the back. Grasso explains that after the shooting, which was deemed a "terrible accident" by then Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, Robinson forgave Del-Debbio from his hospital bed. Robinson now says that the only reason he said he forgave Del-Debbio was because he was pressured into a photo session with Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who the policeman suggests wanted to preempt more bad press. After Robinson got out of the hospital, he filed an enormous civil suit against Del-Debbio. In Grasso's interviews with the two men, it becomes clear that neither has truly begun to recover from the case. The discharged Del-Debbio found work as a truck driver but lost his marriage, and the disabled Robinson began drinking and faced a rape charge two years after the shooting. The remainder of the program focuses on the question of whether Del-Debbio shot at Robinson simply because Robinson is black. (Del-Debbio is white.) Robinson's attorney, Brian O'Dwyer, says that of the "forty cases of officers shooting other officers accidentally over the last fifteen years, not one of the victims has been white." Commercials deleted.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by The New York Community Trust - Haas Foundation Fund.

Details

  • NETWORK: Court TV
  • DATE: November 30, 1998
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:40:59
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T:65416
  • GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Actions and defenses; Police
  • SERIES RUN: Court TV/TruTV - TV series, 1998-2010
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Bonnie Dry … Executive Producer
  • Ilene Findler … Producer, Writer
  • Robert Reale … Music by
  • Richard Belzer … Host
  • June Grasso … Host
  • William J. Bratton
  • Peter Del-Debbio
  • Giuliani, Rudolph (see also: Giuliani, Rudy)
  • Brian O'Dwyer
  • Desmond Robinson