A Brutal Cop and his victims

One hundred years ago today … A case of police brutality was heard in police court. Officer Charles F. Tighe appeared at police headquarters, charged with felonious assault of “a number [sic] men, women and children” (“TIGHE DEFENDS HIMSELF BEFORE POLICE INQUIRY,” Daily News, 10 August 1921, p. 4.)

The News of August 1st dubbed Tighe “the Blackjack Policeman.” 

Tighe had brutally attacked civilians, as the Tribune put it, “during a ‘raid’ on Patrick Coen's former saloon at 600 Ninth Avenue” (“Tighe Arrested Again on Charge He Hit Cripple,"” New-York Tribune, 2 August 1921, p. 21; scare quotes in the original). The article reports: “The specific complaint,” that caused Tighe’s arrest “was brought by Helen Coen, the seven and a half year old daughter of Coen. She alleged that Tighe took her by the throat and pushed her around the room.” Then, Tighe was charged separately with assault on “Charles Green, a one-legged negro bootblack, of 219 East Seventy-third Street,” whom Tighe had struck and “knocked the crutches from under his arms.”

Four of Tighe’s victims testified at the August 9 police inquiry. “Emma Lenon, 560 West Fiftieth street; Mrs. Catherine Gaiety, 360 West Forty-third street; Ellen Fitzgerald, 349 West Forty-third street,” and Coen, “little Helen Coen”  (“TIGHE DEFENDS HIMSELF”).

Rollin Kirby’s cartoon suggests that some in the public were outraged that Tighe had not lost his NYPD job.

– Jonathan Goldman, August 9, 2021

TAGS: police brutality, corruption, violence, law, NYPD, prohibition