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Harlem in Disorder: A Spatial History of How Racial Violence Changed in 1935

Detective John O'Brien's investigation of the killing of Lloyd Hobbs

The records of Detective John O'Brien's investigation of the shooting of Lloyd Hobbs are in the files of Arthur Garfield Hays. He chaired the subcommittee of the MCCH that investigated the death and had requested copies of all police records related to the boy's case. O'Brien also twice testified about his investigation in public hearings held by the subcommittee, on April 20 and May 18.

The Complaint Report O'Brien filed on March 20 included only a summary of what Patrolman McInerney told him at the hospital. O'Brien filed a Supplementary Complaint Report on March 28, in which he included statements by Hobbs and a more detailed statement by McInerney and a brief statement by his partner, Patrolman Watterson. The report also briefly mentioned O'Brien's visit to the site of the shooting and inquiries in the area that failed to locate any witnesses. A Supplementary Complaint Report dated April 1 recorded O'Brien's interview with Eisenberg and a detailed list of the property stolen from the shop that he gave to the detective. The detective did not file another report until April 7. That Supplementary Complaint Report recorded activities precipitated by Hobbs' death on March 30. O'Brien informed the DA's office of the death and was told to have McInerney and all witnesses at the office on April 1. McInerney, Watterson, and Eisenberg were questioned by ADA Saul Price on April 1st. He then adjourned the hearing until April 3, subpoenaing Russell Hobbs and his father Lawyer to appear then. O'Brien recorded that Lawyer Hobbs mentioned five witnesses. The ADA sent O'Brien to the MCCH hearing on April 6 to subpeona those witnesses, adjourning the hearing until April 8.

O'Brien filed the final Supplementary Complaint Report on April 11. It recorded the appearance of Howard Malloy, John Moore, and Samuel Pitts before ADA Price on April 8. Two days later, Price presented the case to the grand jury. The report included a list of those who testified. O'Brien was among them, as was Detective Thomas McCormick, the stenographer, Patrolman Watterson, Russell Hobbs and both his parents, Malloy, Moore and Pitts, and Eisenberg. Defendants were not required to testify, but McInerney waived his immunity and offered to appear. The grand jury declined to hear his testimony. They dismissed the charges — O'Brien recorded that they "exonerated" McInerney — and O'Brien closed the case.

Detective O'Brien testified about his investigation before a public hearing of the MCCH first on April 20. Arthur Garfield Hays asked him about the statement he took from Eisenberg, his work for the DA's office, and what evidence he found that objects had been thrown at McInerney and Watterson. He was also questioned about the absence of any mention of the stolen items in the entry for Hobbs' arrest in the police blotter seen by the MCCH investigator. ILD lawyers then asked more hostile questions about what he did at the hospital and scene, including the failure to fingerprint the stolen items, presenting his investigation as inadequate. O'Brien attracted some of the anger from the audience that marked the testimony of Patrolman Watterson immediately before and led Hays to adjourn the hearing for ten minutes to restore order. Someone in the audience interjected, "He is trying to speak low because he is afraid." O'Brien retorted, "I am not afraid of anything, lady."

O'Brien testified again on May 18. He brought the items police alleged that Hobbs had taken from the automobile supply store and dropped when McInerney shot him. He was questioned extensively about where those objects had been: O'Brien said he saw them for the first time on April 1, when McInerney appeared at the DA's office, but for the first time said that they had been recorded on the arrest report. The MCCH investigator had not seen that record. Questioned about when the items were handed into the Property Department, he said he did not know. It was not until April 8, the MCCH investigator had found, a week after O'Brien first saw them. ILD lawyers then questioned him again about his investigation, drawing out his failure to speak to the Hobbs family and that he had not seen the allegedly stolen items when he questioned McInerney at Harlem Hospital. Marshall Phifer, a witness who had just testified that he had seen nothing in Hobbs' hands when McInerney shot him, interjected to insist on what he had seen. O'Brien also testified that no fingerprints had been found on the items, only "smudges." At the end of the detective's testimony, someone in the audience called out, "I would like to request, in view of the ignorance of this man, in view of the lack of investigation, that he be recommended for dismissal."

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