Near 4 AM on December 9, 1981 Mumia Abu-Jamal was working a second job as a nighttime cab driver in the hope of making additional money for the upcoming holiday season. He was driving west on Locust St. when he saw that his brother's Volkswagen had been pulled to the side of the road by a Philadelphia Police cruiser. Mumia pulled into a parking garage on the North side of Locust so he could question his brother to make sure he wasn't in any trouble. After emerging from the parking garage he saw Officer Daniel Faulkner holding his brother "spread eagle" over the hood of the squad car, bludgeoning him with what appeared to be a flashlight. Eyewitness Mark Scanlan, who was on the northwest corner of 13th and Locust collaborates this story saying he saw Faulkner spin Jamal's brother around and throw him against the hood. He said that Jamal's brother then turned back around and struck the police officer at which point Faulkner proceeded to strike Jamal's brother. After arriving on the scene officers found Faulkner's flashlight, broken and covered in blood propped against the curb. One officer also noted that Jamal's brother had a deep laceration on his temple. Upon seeing this scuffle, Mumia broke into a run to cover the distance between the parking garage and the squad car. It was 4 AM, it was dark, Officer Faulkner had just been "assaulted" by a suspect in a neighborhood that wasn't known to be police friendly, and now another black male was running in his direction from across the street. We can only speculate as to what happened next. None of the witnesses called to trial saw who shot whom first. A series of gunshots erupted on the scene, at least five in all, and both Mumia Abu-Jamal and Officer Faulkner dropped to the ground. Mumia recovered, Faulkner did not. Afterwards no less than five eyewitnesses originally testified to seeing somebody flee the scene. They all agreed that he was approximately 6'2 and 220 pounds. They all agreed ...
