Torsney's partner had seen no "silver object." There was no weapon of any sort. An all-white jury found Torsney not guilty of murder by reason of insanity; they were convinced the officer had experienced a "psychotic episode" triggered by an epileptic disease so rare that medical experts had never heard of it. Torsney's first and last "Seizure" occurred the moment he killed the child. He was released from a mental ward in 1979 when doctors could find nothing wrong with him.

* New York, 1978.

Businessman Arthur Miller was beaten to death by 16 policemen. Miller's brother, Samuel, was fighting with two officers who sought to arrest him for driving without a license in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. Arthur Miller joined the battle, and more police were summoned. Some 16 officers "swarmed" Miller, who died of "pressure applied to throat." A series of demonstrations followed, one of which drew 2000 participants. A grand jury acquitted all 16 officers, saying there was no evidence of brutality in the case.

* New York, 1979.

Manuel Martinez, 40, and his nephew. Domingo Morales Jr., 25, were shot point-blank by Officer Kevin Durkin. The policeman was off-duty in a bar across the street from his Bronx police precinct. Morales and Martinez were about to leave when Durkin suddenly fired five shots from within two feet of the men; Morales was hit once in the face and Martinez twice in the back. As Durkin's fellow officers removed the gun from his hand, he stood over the bodies, muttering. "I'm on the job. I got them. They're coming in the bar."

Durkin later testified that he believed the two men were members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), a Puerto Rican leftist group. He also said he "had no choice" but to shoot because Morales moved as if reaching for a gun (neither man was armed, nor did they have anything to do with the FALN.) Psychiatrist Daniel W. Schwartz, whose "rare epilepsy" testimony had convinced a jury in a similar case in 1976 (see above), argued that Durkin had temporarily gone insane. The jury found Durkin not guilty, but passed over the insanity issue and decided the officer had thought his life was in danger. Bronx District Attorney Mario Merola expressed disgust at the verdict: "Any man who shoots an unarmed man twice in the back should not be given a gun and put back on the streets." Durkin did not return to duty.

* Philadelphia, 1980.

William Green, 17, was killed by patrolman John Zeigler. Green was spotted driving a stolen car in North Philadelphia; Zeigler chased the car until it hit a tree, then pursued the fleeing Green on foot. After catching the teen, Zeigler cracked his skull twice with the barrel of his revolver. In the process, the gun went off and killed Green. The resulting community protests included overturning cars and pelting police with bricks and bottles. Zeigler was removed from the force.

* Baltimore, 1980.

Ja-Wan McGee. 17, was crippled by an officer in a pizza parlor when he reached into his pocket for a cigarette lighter. The officer later said he had fired because he thought McGee was taking out a gun to hold up the parlor. City Attorney William A. Swisher refused to prosecute the policeman because, in his view, there had been "no criminal intent." Demonstrations followed the decision.

* Flint, Michigan, 1980.

William Taylor Jr., a 15-year-old, was killed by officer Gerald Collins. The patrolman saw Taylor running from the scene of a house burglary. When the boy did not respond to the command "Freeze," Collins hit him in the back of the head with a shotgun blast. Within a week of the killing, hundreds of Blacks hit policemen with stones and attacked squad cars. The Flint police cleared Collins of any wrongdoing.

* Houston, election night 1981.

About 10 off-duty white officers, wearing jeans and t-shirts, terrorized the Black inhabitants of a hotel after an election night party. Brandishing a Confederate flag and a skull-and-crossbones flag, they shouted racial epithets, gashed one resident with a flashlight, knocked someone's teeth out, and threw a third person down a flight of stairs. After a year-long investigation, seven policemen were dismissed from the force and six were suspended without pay.

* Mexia, Texas, 1981.