Anthony Rosario
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Anthony Rosario (1976–January 12, 1995), an 18-year-old resident of New York City, born and raised in The Bronx, was killed (along with Hilton Vega (1973-1995)) by NYPD officers Patrick Brosnan and James Crowe, who were former bodyguards of mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The perceived refusal of Giuliani and Commissioner Bill Bratton to listen to new evidence caused clashes between citizens and police. His mother has since fought for the rights of the families of youths killed by the police.
http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9C04E1DC133EF935A35752C1A9649C8B63
N.Y. TIMES REVIEW FILM REVIEW; How Did Bullets End Up in the Floor? Print Save By DAVE KEHR Published: November 6, 2002, Wednesday
On Jan. 12, 1995, two young Puerto Rican residents of the Bronx, Anthony Rosario and Hilton Vega, were shot to death by detectives of the New York Police Department.
The officers said they were acting in self-defense, firing on two men in the act of committing an armed robbery. A grand jury believed them, and no charges were brought against them.
But Margarita Rosario, Anthony's mother, refused to let the matter rest. She took her case to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, whose investigators concluded that the detectives had used excessive and unnecessary force. Evidence from an autopsy and the testimony of a witness who had not been heard by the grand jury suggested that the two young men had been shot in the back while they were lying on the floor.
Still, no charges were brought against the officers. The makers of Justifiable Homicide, a documentary about the case that opens today at Anthology Film Archives in the East Village, suggest that the subsequent firings of the director of the review board and the investigators assigned to the Rosario-Vega case were a result of the Giuliani administration's desire to make the case go away. One of the detectives involved in the killing, the film notes repeatedly, had been a voluntary bodyguard to Rudolph W. Giuliani during his mayoral campaign.
Directed by Jon Osman and Jonathan Stack, Justifiable Homicide is a partisan but not excessively polemical exploration of the killings and their aftermath. Using some of the dramatic techniques developed by Errol Morris in his 1988 Thin Blue Line, the filmmakers build an argument that is both intellectual and emotional, concentrating as much on the forensic evidence as on Ms. Rosario's passionate commitment to finding justice for her son.
In the film's most potent passage, the directors use a split screen technique to show Ms. Rosario placing a call to Mr. Giuliani's radio program during his term as mayor. One side of the screen shows Ms. Rosario as she politely but persistently attempts to present her case, while on the other side, in tape apparently provided by the mayor's office, Mr. Giuliani talks right over her, insisting on two points that the film says were not true: that gunfire was exchanged and that Anthony had a criminal record.
The filmmakers characterize the Rosario-Vega case as part of an epidemic of police shootings during the Giuliani administration, climaxing with the killing of Amadou Diallo in 1999. Justifiable Homicide is a sobering reminder that there was more to Mr. Giuliani's mayoralty than Sept. 11.
JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE
Produced and directed by Jon Osman and Jonathan Stack; directors of photography, Mr. Osman and Teymoore Nabili; edited by David Moore, Frank Kauredren and Mr. Osman; music by Wendy Blackstone; released by Reality Films/Gabriel Films. At Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, at Second Street, East Village. Running time: 85 minutes. This film is not rated.
