Harry Callahan is brought to justice

Date: December 23, 1983

San Francisco Police Department
Office of Internal Affairs
Hearing: Detective Harold Elias Callahan
Behavior and Suspension

Present: IAD Chief Lt. John Sawyer
Detective Harold Elias Callahan, currently on suspension
James Grayson, Esq., of Hart, Stiller and Meara Law Firm

Sawyer: Detective Callahan, we are here regarding an incident of December 11, 1983 at the Acorn Cafe, Downtown San Francisco. Detective, are you prepared to testify in regard to this event?

Callahan: Yes sir, and I have on hand my attorney, Jim Grayson.

Sawyer: OK, Here’s the report I received from officers on the scene, witnesses, and investigators. You entered the premises of said Acorn Cafe, and while reading a newspaper the waitress on duty added sugar, a large amount of sugar, to your coffee. On exiting, you tasted the coffee and turned around to go back to the cafe and get a refill when you noticed certain patrons, who I am told were all negroes, putting up CLOSED signs and locking the doors. Realizing a robbery was in progress, you went around the corner and entered the Cafe by a back entrance. You confronted the assailants, and proceeded to shoot three of them, forcing the last to drop his weapon even as he held a hostage. Said assailant said you claimed that killing him would “make your day.”

Grayson: Lieutenant, we are prepared to stipulate certain facts, one that there was a robbery in progress, and that it was a hostage situation. Quick action was in order.

Lt. Sawyer: Pursuant to the events of that morning, you were on your way to work when you were hailed by a patrol car, pulled over, told to surrender your weapon, and to come downtown for questioning.

Callahan: Yeah, fer Chrissakes, why was I being questioned? I didn’t rob anyone. I didn’t take a hostage. I just intervened in a crime.

Grayson:  What my client is saying is that there was a situation where protocol had to be set aside, as lives were at stake. Quick, decisive action was called for.

Lt. Sawyer: Yes, I understand that, Counselor. We are the Internal Affairs Division, and are charged with the obligation to investigate all violent encounters between the public and police officers. This particular incident has drawn wide alarm and criticism, with words like “Vigilante” and “Excessive Violence” and “Racism” attached to the detective’s activity that morning.

Grayson: I am aware of the feelings expressed in the media and the wild accusations surrounding this event. I hope this is an impartial hearing, removed from the microscope of emotions and news.

Lt. Sawyer: Indeed, only the outcome of this hearing will be reported. News media is not allowed in this hearing, and any leaks will be investigated and punished. Detective Callahan, why did you not call for backup?

Callahan: In my view, there was no time. I feared that the assailants might open fire on their hostages. It was, after all, a hostage situation.

Lt. Sawyer: Were there hostages when you entered the back entrance?

Callahan: Well, no. But as soon as they saw me and saw me draw my gun, yes, it became a hostage situation.

Lt. Sawyer: In other words, you provoked the taking of hostages?

Callahan: No, no … Jim, don’t just sit there. Say something fer chrissakes.

Grayson: Uh, well, yes. Detective Callahan has many years on the force, and has a nose for this sort of trouble. He didn’t make them take hostages. That was a voluntary provocation on the part of the assailants.

Lt. Sawyer: Did you stop to consider, Detective, that this was a small cafe with just a few patrons, so that it was highly unlikely that four armed assailants would even enter the place, much less try to profit from robbing what were ordinary patrons, and not wealthy people? That is out of proportion! They might make a few bucks! Patrons of a cafe like this do not wear Rolexes or real pearls. Why did they choose that cafe?

Callahan: Well, you know, after the fact, yeah, I looked at the situation and wondered why they would bring such firepower to a corner cafe, especially one I’ve been patronizing for ten years. I mean, didn’t they know I come here every morning?

Lt. Sawyer: Ten years, you say. Do you wonder, Detective, if your reputation as a shoot-first then ask questions cop preceded you? Might these assailants have picked this little cafe knowing you frequented it? Do you suppose they might have come there knowing you would show up? That would explain why they were so heavily armed for a mundane robbery. Otherwise, it makes no sense.

Callahan: Criminals don’t always make sense, do they.

Lt. Sawyer: After the fact, you say. Now, I want you to perform a little mental exercise here along with me. Let’s change the behavior on your part. You taste the coffee, turn around, see the signs going up and doors being locked. You call it in. You wait for other officers to arrive on the scene. You brief them. Protocol would be, in this situation, that officers and patrol units arrive in silence, to avoid the taking of hostages. They let the scene play out, and yes, people are robbed of watches and jewelry and any cash. In the meantime, police cover all of the exits. We wait until they exit the scene, and once they are free of the cafe, surround them make them drop their weapons, and arrest them. Officers would have cleared the area to avoid any crossfire.

Callahan: Yeah, right, in your perfect world. Then some pissant judge is going to let them go for some technicality. My way is better. I confronted them, shot and killed three, got the last one to stand down.

Grayson: What my client means is that, on occasion, due to some impropriety committed by a police officer, judges have vacated charges and let criminal suspects go free.

Lt. Sawyer: OK, the subject is broached. Counselor Grayson, are you prepared to supply statistics on the number of times such an event has taken place, where suspect were let go due to a “technicality”, as you say?

Grayson: I recall the affair, widely publicized, of a certain bank robber, Jacob Smoltz, right here in San Francisco, being let go after it was discovered that police had illegally wiretapped his home.

Lt. Sawyer: You are aware, of course, that you are bringing anecdotal evidence to this hearing, correct? You know better. Counselor, I’d like some statistics. How many events like this are on record?

Grayson: Well, I can’t supply that information. But Lieutenant, you surely understand that even if it happens once, its a travesty!

Callahan: We can’t let punks walk away from their crimes. They have to pay, and I’m the one who made them pay that day. It’s my job.

Lt. Sawyer: I see. Detective, are you aware of the word “Restraint”?”

Callahan: Yeah, I know about it. But you gotta see that I don’t have time to sit back and evaluate an emergency situation. I have to act!

Lt. Sawyer: I see. Detective, is the fact that the four assailants were negroes affect your judgment?

Callahan: Oh hell no! I don’t care about skin color. I don’t care if they are lily white or Indians or Chinamen. I fix the situation.

Lt. Sawyer: OK, I’ve got the lay of the land here. Detective Callahan, pending further review, you are to continue on paid leave. But I advise you and your counsel that this body, the Internal Affairs Division, regards your activity on that day as reckless, and that you used excessive violence to control a situation otherwise manageable by a more restrained response. Furthermore, our Office will seek your permanent removal from the San Francisco Police Department. Frankly sir, you’re a loose cannon. What are the people of our city to think when you kill three blacks in a small robbery that could have been handled with a more prudent police response?

Callahan: Prudent my ass! They were punks! They needed to be taught a lesson!

Lt. Sawyer: You mean they were negro punks?

Callahan: Yeah, they were negroes, but I didn’t have time to think about that, to not shoot because they are somehow special and protected.

Grayson: Lieutenant, my client means to say that he does not discriminate based on race, and that no race is exempt from justice.

Lt. Sawyer: OK, this hearing is at an end. Detective, you are to turn in your badge and weapon, and further are advised not to leave the city. We will be investigating possible criminal charges.

Callahan: (Rising in anger) Yeah, right. I’m the goddamned criminal now! This is pissant justice!

Lt. Sawyer: Counselor restrain your client. Guards, escort Detective Callahan from the room.

Gavel falls.