Incident: At 6:30 pm on March 31st, Officer David Quirk was patrolling in his police cruiser when he saw William Casey, thirty-nine, run a stop sign. Casey was a well known business owner in the North End. Quirk followed Casey to his home and asked for his driver’s license. Casey refused and “became belligerent” as a crowd started to form.¹ He brandished a two-inch pocketknife and approached Officer Quirk, who tried to hit him with a blackjack—a short bludgeoning device weighted with lead—and missed. Quirk then shot Casey four times. He was seriously wounded in the right chest and left groin and superficially wounded in the right arm and thigh. Quirk performed first aid until the ambulance came. Casey was in serious condition at the hospital that night, and survived with major injuries. 

Officer Quirk was found to have acted in self-defense and received no punishment, even though he had a pattern of excessive force. Ten days before shooting William Casey, Officer Quirk had shot at someone else: a young man who had allegedly stolen a box of yeast. The bullet grazed his leg and he escaped. Casey, however, was convicted of aggravated assault and resisting an officer on November 13th, facing a ten-year sentence. On December 18th, he received a suspended sentence and instead received three years’ probation. The shooting was a factor in the momentum for community organizing in the Spring of 1970 which culminated in a city council investigation of police use of force (See City Council Committee on Police Use of Firearms).

William Casey Newspaper Coverage

• April 1, 1970: HC “Man Wounded By Policeman”
• April 1, 1970: HC  “Man Wounded During Scuffle”
• April 2, 1970: HC “Youth Fatally Shot Fleeing Policeman: Shooting Is Third In Month”
• April 2, 1970: HC “Man Shot Dead In Auto Chase”
• April 3, 1970: HC, “Citizens Meet Over Shootings” 
• April 7, 1970: HC “Black Policemen Favor City Probe: Vote Defies Resolution Of Union”
• April 8, 1970: HC “Priests, Nuns Back Probe of Shootings” 
• December 3, 1970: HC “Man Shot by Policeman To Be Sentenced Dec. 18”
• December 19, 1970: HC “Man Shot by Police Gets Suspended Term”
• January 1, 1971: HC “Deadly Force Year’s Biggest Issue”