Black bus driver framed by S.F. cops

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Staff: Paul Colvin, May May Gong, David Kirschner, Hayden Perry, Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly for $8 per year Francisco, CA 94110. Second-class postage is paid at San Francisco, Calif.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Socialist Action, 3435 Army RATES: For one year (12 issues)—U.S. 2nd Class: $8, 1st Class: $12; Canada and Mexico 2nd Class: $12, 1st Class: $15; All other countries 2nd Class: $15, 1st Class: $30. (Canada money orders or checks should be in Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views Imagine that you're at work early one morning-just doing your job. Suddenly, half-a-dozen police officers come by and taunt you, implying that you're not working fast enough. When you protest, the cops call you "nigger" and beat you to a pulp.

And that's not all. Later, you are placed on trial. The cops charge you with resisting arrest and (of all things) assaulting a police officer. You face a prison sentence-for just doing your job.

It might be hard to believe that such things take place. But that is indeed what happened to Gregory Wiggins, a young Black man and a member of my union, the Transport Workers Union Local 250-A. He and I are both bus drivers for the San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI), the city's public-transit system.

This is Gregory Wiggins' story, as he told it to me: "On Oct. 19, 1988, I was pulling my bus out of Woods Division. As I approached Bayshore Blvd., a cop stopped me and said there was a roadblock ahead. I said, 'Thank you. I'll move the bus up.!' "Before I could move the bus, a cop yelled at me, 'Move the motherfuckin' bus, nigger!'' After an exchange of words, Wiggins stated, a cop called out, "Let's get the nigger!"

Wiggins told me that he managed to drive the bus to a parking lot. A MUNI supervisor opened the bus door, and several cops "rushed in, reached for my neck, and handcuffed me. They strangled me till I blacked out."

The cops then took turns hitting Wiggins with their hands and their flashlights. They threw him off the bus, Greg said, and "started dribbling my head like a basketball into the flowerbeds."

Refused treatment

At the police station, Wiggins was given no treatment for his wounds. After he was released, he went to St. Francis Hospital but was refused aid. A claims adjuster explained, "There's a discrepancy between your report and the police report."

Today, Gregory Wiggins must use a cane to walk. He suffered a fractured hip and severe bruises to his neck, back, and head. He has received no worker's compensation or assault pay (as specified in our union contract). He faces 30-days suspension from work without pay and up to a year in prison if he's convicted on the assault charge.

The trial began on Feb. 21. In his opening statement, the assistant district attorney portrayed Gregory Wiggins as an apparent maniac who attacked six pistol-packing cops out of the blue one morning while he was on the job driving his bus.

The jury was informed that the cops remained "calm" under the dire circumstances. "The evidence will show," the prosecutor intoned, "that no police officer used the word 'nigger."

Furthermore, he told the jury, Officer Eugene Yoshii will testify that he saw Wiggins "with his body hanging outside the bus window and yelling profanities" at the police. Later, Wiggins allegedly bit Officer Yoshii on the finger and drew blood.

Officer Yoshii Yoshii is just one of the goons that the prosecutor will place in the witness stand in an attempt to make the victim of a cop attack appear the criminal. According to Wiggins' attorney, however, Yoshii has been the subject of about 30 citizens' AcTioN Editor: ALAN BENJAMIN Asst. Editors: MICHAEL SCHREIBER JOE RYAN Kwame M.A. Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein.

Business Manager: KATHY SANDS St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110.

U.S. dollars.)

These are expressed in editorials.

complaints charging Violence and harassment.

Not long ago, a female rookie cop filed charges "Yoshil that "Y shil Closing date:

Feb. 27, 1989 physically assaulted her, choked her unconscious, repeatedly raped and sodomized her, and forced her to have oral sex. " (San Francisco Chronicle, May 22, 1987) The woman has filed a $2 million lawsuit against him.

Judge Paul Alvarado has refused to permit Wiggins to introduce any evidence on the rape charge against Yoshii. But he agreed to allow testimony about another incident in which a bullet from Yoshii's gun hit a drug suspect in the cheek.

Many MUNI bus drivers have been attending the trial during our lunch breaks and splits in order to show support for brother Wiggins. In addition, 107 members of Transport Workers Union Local 100 in New York City have signed a letter demanding that the district attorney drop the charges.

As Gregory Wiggins told me, "I'm trying to get everyone behind my case—labor people, religious leaders, community leaders-everyone. Let's make some noise and tell the city that we won't tolerate these assaults any more."

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