Original subtitles

Leave him down!

Police! This is Tully Savalas. Here are some scenes from the next episode of

Kojak. Your friend tried to shoot the officer.

No! He was on the ground and the cops shot him because he's Puerto Rican. Now

that's a bigoted line no matter who said it. Two cops against two boys!

If the cops were wrong, they were wrong.

These men committed a crime. We'll help convict them. The cop is a pig!

You're in trouble. Is this your case? Well, if I've been transferred or

promoted. Over my dead body.

Next. I'm Kodak.

Let's go back.

Move it.

Quiet.

Give it.

Give it.

Why?

I think we got us a couple of battery boosters.

Wonder. Wouldn't it be nice to have one day you didn't have to look at a shift?

Yeah, well, this ain't it.

Look, through the lot, we can still make nightcare. Yeah, I just hope to God the

kid's over 16, because I can't stand children's court. It's a waste of time.

All right, fellas, police.

Where'd you get the battery?

All right,

where'd you get the battery from?

Mine. I bought it around the corner.

Yeah, sure.

Why don't we all take a walk and see where you bought it?

Hector!

Hector! Mama, it's all right. It's nothing.

Jimmy's got my gun!

Stop it, will you?

Stay back.

Where are they?

Right this way, Chief. I'll show you.

You guys, Chief was... Two kids.

They didn't have the battery. They had possession.

Resisted arrest.

They grabbed Garrett's gun and they pointed at O 'Connor.

Get that kid out of here for God's sake. Calm this crowd down.

What the hell are you doing? Hanging around?

Get these men out of here. They're getting a shooting. We're covering the

It is a police officer shooting a boy. Now, what the hell are you doing? I'll

tell you what I'm doing, Lieutenant Kojak. I'm ordering you to cool this

off and fast.

Captain.

Are you men finished?

I can get this area cleaned out now.

The boy can be moved. Move him.

Kojak, is this your case?

Well, as I've been transferred and promoted, this is Stoneman Haddon South.

Promotion is doubtful. A transfer is always possible.

Then what can I tell you, baby? The case is mine.

I expect to be kept filled in on whatever you come up with. You

If you come up with anything other than justifiable, you'll be informed. Yes,

sir. Justifiable. Clearly defined.

Right out of departmental regulations. You hear?

They were investigating a shooting.

Not a cop reciting dirty words.

Captain McNeil, this is Officer Garrett, Officer O 'Connor from the Anti -Crime

Squad. Which one of you shot him? I did.

He's been over to the precinct.

Come on, guys.

From this moment on, you make no statement to anyone until the PBA lawyer

up. You have the right and protections of a private citizen. Take advantage of

it. Hey, wait a minute. What the hell's going on here?

It was the only thing I could do.

What was I supposed to do? Let the kid kill my partner?

Is that what would have happened?

Well?

What are they doing?

Choosing sides?

It may come to that.

It hasn't yet.

But let's go over the scorecard.

They are the police brass that have to answer the public.

I am the PBA representative who has to answer to the membership.

And you two are the involved officers who have to tell your story to somebody

who's going to fight for your side.

Almost a class reunion.

Captain, this call's for you.

Tell him.

Hey! Tell him what happened.

The kid had me dead.

I was gone.

Take it easy, O 'Connor.

All right, now what the hell do we do to be here like this?

Get him into my office.

The assistant district attorney is coming down. I want to talk to the girl

I had to go over to the hospital.

The boy died.

If the cops were wrong, they were wrong.

You're going to say so?

These men committed a crime. We'll help convict them. Believe me.

Sure, I believe.

That cop was my brother. I believe that, too.

Did you see him? I was there.

Why? Why? My mother was screaming, so I ran.

Then you weren't there.

I got there.

And they were fighting.

Who was fighting?

Everybody. Who was everybody?

I don't know.

I mean, I don't know the name.

But my brother had his hands up.

He was fighting with his hands up?

He stopped.

Show us.

Now, would he, uh... Would he open or close?

Open.

Holding a gun?

I saw it.

I'll tell you.

My brother was with his friend who was showing him a battery he bought.

And the cops came up and grabbed them and hit them and shot Hector.

And my brother fell.

But now you want to tell me.

No gun.

Nothing. No gun.

I didn't see no gun in my brother's hand.

He don't have no gun.

Why did they do that to him?

Two cops against two boys.

He shoots and shoots my poor brother, Hector.

leave because you were observed running from the scene. Hey, man, they got

crazy. I was scared. Yeah, sure, scared.

You had the guts to steal a battery.

Hey, steal? Hey, nah, man.

We bought it off a man.

Hector paid him $10 and he gave us the battery.

Off a man?

Off a man.

Well, then you have a receipt.

What receipt?

Hector gave him $10 and he gave us the battery.

A cab driver from a repair shop around the corner had this receipt.

Seems the battery was missing from his car.

Right where the officer said it was missing. Hey, man, they got lots of

batteries, lots of receipts.

Customers come and go.

Hector paid $10, and he got the battery. Now, I thought, what'd they shoot my

friend for?

It was our battery. You didn't have to shoot him.

If he stole it, why don't you shoot the cabbie that lies to you?

Yeah, but your friend tried to shoot the officer.

No, he was on the ground, and the cops shot him because he's Puerto Rican.

Easy, Chino.

They shot him for no reason. They always do it.

Hector, man, he's a good friend of mine. He don't make no trouble. The cop is a

pig.

So, okay.

Let's take this whole thing again all over from the beginning, huh?

Sergeant O 'Connor, you're fully aware of all your rights, and of course, you

know that you do not have to make any kind of a statement at this time.

What happens if I don't make a statement?

You'll be temporarily suspended.

I'll make a statement.

Hey, uh, wait for a lawyer.

Wait for a lawyer. That's swell advice.

My wife's sitting home, pregnant, worried, sick. How do I support her

any paychecks while they drag this thing out?

Maybe I'll go on welfare.

On this date...

At about 1 ,800 hours, my brother officer and

I were on patrol.

Diaz was chasing me around the car, pointing my gun at me.

O 'Connor came running over, yelling, drop it.

The kid turned to him, cocked the gun.

O 'Connor drew and fired.

Okay, that's it?

That's it.

Yeah?

Bueno, Lieutenant, the way it sounds so far, it seems to me that

there's no cave here.

However, the grand jury will be the ones to decide that.

Mamacita, nada va a pasar. They will not move you out. If they move you out,

I'll give you my apartment.

Now, can I just go and see this man?

Please? Did you read the letter they sent me? Yes.

Taxi!

Now, do it today, not tomorrow, okay? Muchas gracias.

I'll call him to expect you.

Aquí. Muchas gracias.

Hey, Mr. Serio!

Everyone's talking about it, but there's nothing but a couple of lines in the

Anglo press.

It figures.

A defenseless boy shot in front of his family in this neighborhood?

It happens all the time, doesn't it?

Hey, Mr. Serio, I knew this kid. Defenseless he was not. We had him in

remember?

Gangs. He was in a gang. We tried to reach him. He laughed at us. So we

They're all in gangs here.

Hey, hey, the kid was a thief.

Sure. Thief.

Only in those office buildings it's done with accountants, with lawyers, and

English names.

And they tell themselves it is different when a kid steals a battery instead of

corporate funds.

We have to do something about this.

Okay, and what's going to happen?

They're going to give us another empty lot and a bunch of grass seeds and we

call it a park.

I am telling you, we're talking about a dead kid. We start something over this,

we'll hit a bomb. Look at them, fighting for their side already.

We have to do something, Garcia, for this mother, for the sister.

It's our job.

It's our moral responsibility.

Wait, wait. Where are you going now?

To put their heads on the mayor's coffee table.

Who's that?

Thomas Dario.

The Spanish community's representative to the mayor's office.

Well, it looks like they're choosing sides. That's too bad. Come on, let's

I didn't recognize your old Washington scrub.

Look, you ought to stay out of the sunshine.

It gives you a wrinkle. You won't look pretty.

Or to keep the conversation rolling along, what have they got you doing down

here?

Oh, today I put the A's before the B's. Tomorrow I get into C's and D's.

Check with me on Thursday.

Hey, O 'Connor.

Could have happened to any one of us.

Yeah.

And I could have stood back and let Garrett die first.

Then if I blew the kid away, I'd be a hero.

When you were firing, what was the kid doing?

Pointing Garrett's gun at me. Was he standing?

What?

Come on, will you hang loose?

Or just dig it into it? What are you digging for?

Witnesses. On whose orders?

The DA's office. Hey, he wants to get to the bottom of this. The DA's office

couldn't care less about two street cops.

Hey, I care, the captain cares, my men care. Now, who the hell are you to say

that nobody cares?

Yeah, you read the latest papers.

Now, what does it say in there that the boy had a gun in my head?

You dig into that.

Well?

Was that the way it happened?

The white cop.

He killed him.

Just like we did.

What's the matter?

I thought he was standing.

Here.

Which way was it, you know? I told you he was on the ground.

She was scared.

She forgot.

He's dead.

That's what's important.

What's all this for, anyway?

He was on the ground.

Was Hector holding a gun?

I saw no gun.

Nah, man, no gun.

All of you who were here when the shooting happened, give your name to

If you know any other witnesses but cannot remember what happened, now that

cleared up, you can help them.

Tell the police.

Testify to it in court. It will be the only way we'll get justice here.

Justice?

My brother is dead.

The police did it.

Well, let them die, too.

I think you got Sanchez.

He sure loaded the deck on those two cops. What are the odds in the hole?

I don't know.

You've got an assistant DA with the right surname.

But a lot of people calling in, coming in, going out.

It's the smell of politics, Kojak.

Eat two cups and win a prize.

Listen, now, I don't know when it will go to the grand jury, okay? Now, when I

know, you'll know.

Gracias.

Carajo, every damn reporter in this whole country is looking for another

Watergate to make him famous.

Hello, Lieutenant.

The case was supposed to go in front of the grand jury two days ago.

Oh, come on. I'm going to buy you lunch. Yeah, well, that means how do I tell

them what I don't want to tell them or something like that, right?

Right. Here.

What's this?

That's a little gift from Mr.

Tomas Serio.

A list of witnesses who saw the shooting.

They'll all have to go before the grand jury, and that means that you're going

to have to find them.

Where did the shooting take place? In Yankee Stadium?

I mean to say, did he get a parade pass in order to get all these witnesses

together?

What is it that you're saying?

Yeah, well, I'm saying that two police officers with good records, I think

they're entitled to know where they stand. That's what I'm saying.

Well, where do they stand?

Bueno, I'll tell you where they stand.

Where they stand is in trouble.

Because the sister gave a torn statement.

Her defenseless brother was shot down in cold blood.

And she gave the same line to the press.

You throw away the other kid's corroboration as his alibi.

But she has no record, and she's a very good student. I told her she was

hysterical. Is she lying?

Well, you say cop to hunt, she throws up.

Lieutenant, was she lying? Hey, the most I will say is that she's mistaken.

She was there, and you weren't.

Uh, Mr. Sanchez.

What are you? You know.

Lieutenant, I think it's about time that we let it all out.

I mean, we're going to be working together for the next couple of weeks.

well, why don't you say it softly, counselor?

Bien.

Kojak, I'm a Puerto Rican.

And a Puerto Rican kid was shot today.

And I'm going to be trying the case.

Huh?

How do I worry you?

Well, just say it as it is, counselor.

I promised you lunch.

Yes, right.

As I said before, you know, I mean, in my opinion, there is no murder

here. But my opinion goes only as far as the grand jury.

So I suggest, Lieutenant, that you dig up really hard, as though the

executioner was ready to pull that switch.

Don't worry about me.

I believe in upholding the law.

Go sue me.

Why, you gotta be kidding.

You mean the guy who takes me to these high -class roommate joints? Sue you.

What's the matter, the city's short of mustard?

Cheers.

Well, what a picture.

The upholders of justice breaking ground me.

Hello, George. Nice to see you.

Lieutenant Kojak.

I heard that your people questioned the family of the murder boy right after it

happened. It's a little cruel, don't you think?

Murder boy? I don't know anything about a murder boy.

That's the way it's beginning to look, isn't it? Mario, murder is decided by a

grand jury after they get the facts.

The facts are the boy is dead.

He had no gun. The cops did.

Witnesses saw it clearly.

The cops had to shoot or get shot themselves.

Or have him shot.

Lied to protect themselves?

What are you talking about?

Murder. I said it. You didn't like it. I still say it. Un momentito, Sergio. We

don't know that yet. We haven't even begun.

Sanchez, those are your people that you down every day.

Whose side are you on, huh?

Look, Sergio.

You crucify them, you wind up even. One's black and one's white.

I, uh, hear that O 'Connor is having a little talk to live with what he did.

Sure he is.

Because what he did bothers him. Maybe also his conscience, conspiracy, false

testimony, collusion.

One cop protecting another. It happens, doesn't it? Doesn't it, Sanchez?

Bueno, it happens.

So where is the image of the good guy cop, huh? Where is it?

Too many times, Kojak, the ends have justified the means.

You know it and I know it. And maybe this time to get away with murder?

Over my dead body.

When I got pregnant, I got to be a lousy cook, huh?

Well, you're going to find it on the lunch tomorrow.

Got a family to support.

Waste not, want not.

Honey, it's going to be okay.

Hey.

Jimmy, did I ever lie to my guy?

I'm laid out for the slaughter.

Why? Because I'm a cop?

I wanted to be a cop because I respected the profession.

Now a cop gets home, he can't wait to take his uniform off.

Jimmy, there's a lot of people on your side.

Ah, people. People saying what they saw.

That Dario reminded them what they saw when he wasn't there, when they were no

place around.

Jim, it's going to be all right.

I know it.

I'm a dead man.

What has he got against me, huh?

Hey, you get freaks in every case, Jim. You tell me every time.

Anyway, Lieutenant Kojak is on our side, and all the guys in the division,

everybody's helping.

Are you okay? I'm all right. I'm okay.

Come on.

You see?

Nobody helps.

Nobody but me.

Anybody for pizza?

Uh, why'd you lie?

Come on.

No, no. No!

Oh, baby, you really cut it all today.

I just got the call.

You want to tell me more about it or I wait for the newspapers again?

Oh, it's nothing. You almost started a riot on that block where the dead boy's

sister lives.

What possessed you to go over there?

I had to ask her why.

The story is you assaulted her.

I grabbed her arm and I asked her to tell the truth.

You guys are too much.

Officer O 'Connor, let me tell you something.

For whatever reason, right or wrong, you're in trouble.

You don't understand why it's happening, and you have every right to feel that

way. But don't, for one minute, dare to believe that the people you work with

don't want to see you out of this mess, and with respect.

Uh, Captain, excuse me.

I volunteered for the anti -crime squad you were in a couple of weeks ago.

I'm glad I did.

No, no, another anti -crime squad nut.

Taking up a thankless job?

Who knows?

You could be shot by your own fellow police officer without him knowing who

are. Okada.

Hold on.

Hello?

What is it?

His wife just had a miscarriage.

I called in a civil engineer, and he checked in all directions with his

and according to him, the shooting could only be seen from the end windows of

that tenement over there. It's called the angle of declivity.

Oh, the angle of declivity.

Uh, precisely.

You see, the truck that was parked there obscured a precluded vision from all

the other windows of that building, and the only other possible views were from

the abandoned buildings.

Am I clear, Lieutenant?

Luminously. Would you like me to explain further?

What I would like you to explain, Stubborn, is what the aforementioned

who reside behind those unobscure windows, what they said to you during

doubt, precise and accurate interrogation.

Nothing. Nothing.

Let me clear that up, Lieutenant.

Oh, please proceed.

Four of the apartments at the end of the building in question are empty. The

fourth floor windows behind which it has been determined one Mrs. Celia Moore

resides does not answer when we knock.

You stay here, Stavros, okay?

And keep your eye on the angle of declivity.

Yes, sir.

You know, the police were knocking on your door the other day and nobody

answered.

How did I know they were police?

How did I know someone, like I always read in the papers, say they're police,

get let in, steal and plunder, pillage and rape?

Wasn't out there.

True.

To crime.

Else you'd be out of a job.

There was a shooting across the street a couple of days ago.

That's why I never opened the door.

Did you see it?

Some of it.

When I heard the shouting, I moved over to the window.

Ah. What did you see?

When I reached the window, there were shots.

I saw a boy, two men.

The boy, was he standing up or lying down when you heard the shots?

I think he was standing.

A truck was partly in the way.

Did the boy have a gun in his hand when you saw him?

I saw one man.

Pick up something off the ground.

I think it was a gun.

Yeah, but you're not sure.

Could have been a gun.

Thank you, Mrs. Moore.

Yes, here it is. Picture you, Mrs. Arian. It says, the two men look like

They knocked my brother down. He put his hands over his face.

And then one of them shot him and I screamed.

Is this what you told the reporters?

Yes. And the district attorney's office?

Yes. Well, this is not what you told us.

Mr. Yaz, now, I don't want you to do or say

anything my own daughter wouldn't say if she were asked a question by a police

officer. The truth.

Yes. Well, this was your statement to us.

My brother had his hands up, fists open.

I saw it.

I tell you, my brother was with his friend who was showing him a battery he

bought. The cops came up and grabbed him and hit him and shot him.

And my brother fell, standing lying down, fists open and closed. Which is

I told you.

The moment I got a call that a police car picked it up, I knew it could be for

only one reason.

Gentlemen, what are you doing?

Interrogating a witness to a shooting.

But you already did that.

Now leave the child alone.

They haven't even had the funeral.

Her mother is still in a state of shock.

Mr. Zerio, you're confused.

This isn't the Superior Court of New York City.

You're pleading a case in a dingy little room in a midtown police station.

Now, will you listen to them?

First, a neurotic, bigoted cop goes to the sister of the boy he killed and

physically attacks her, intimidates her, and then a lieutenant of police.

Brings the girl in alone for what?

To make her change her statement, maybe?

She already changed it. That's why she's here.

She was confused the first time. It was right after seeing her brother die.

Now, come on, honey. Let's go. Hold it, hold it, Tomás. Un momento.

If Alicia here is indeed telling the truth, then why are you so upset about

What's the matter with you, Sanchez?

Look at her.

Our people are afraid of the police to start with.

What's the matter with you?

Have you forgotten the ghetto? You came from there once.

Yeah, that's right.

I came from the same place that you did.

And maybe one block poorer, okay?

So? So what does that make me, Tomas?

Blind to the truth?

Their truth or ours?

Sanchez, understand what the fight is?

It's our people against them. The hell it is, Thomas!

It is either right or it is wrong. It is false or it is true.

And that is the law, Thomas.

Okay?

Honey, it's all right.

Come on, I'll take you home.

Alicia, look, honey, someday you're going to have to answer those questions

asked you.

Maybe only to yourself.

But you're going to have to answer them, okay?

Let's go.

Hey, look.

I'm your partner. I know how you feel.

Like it's all coming down.

You're flipping out.

You've got to get a hold.

She lost her baby.

After trying for 12 years.

What did she do for that?

I'll have a beer and whatever again for the boys.

You're having us tailed.

I am.

Look, I can't take any chances with your buddy over there.

One man against the world.

I'm on your side and you can bet on it.

Used to be a cop knew what side he was on.

Now we're only on the right side if we get killed.

Zerio had a play act of the crime today for all the witnesses. You hear about

that?

Don't worry about it. Sanchez will shoot him down.

Sanchez is one of their people.

Sanchez is our assistant district attorney.

Yeah, you're sure?

You know, you'll bet on it.

Go ahead.

Look, you gotta understand what's happening to him.

I understand, do you?

Me?

I'm scared.

Hey, look, I was there, but nobody's gonna believe me.

What's happening in the world, Kojak? If I go against him, they say it's because

he's white and I'm black.

If I go with him, they say it's because we're both cops.

Now that scares the hell out of me.

You got to stay with him.

Because whatever the hell you are, you're the only one he trusts now.

Go ahead.

My brother the honky, ain't that something?

Cheers,

world.

Captain, Lieutenant, I just came from the courthouse. First they say three

weeks, then I turn around and schedule for tomorrow. I mean, what's going on?

The DA figures it's ready.

Got all the subpoenas lined up?

I don't know why so many. The engineers say the only possible person that could

have seen the shooting was that little lady in the inn window.

Yeah, well, those people on the street, they're scared. I mean, the cops are

scared. There's a lot of hatred down there.

Some of it deserved.

Now they see a chance to nail a cop, you know, they're gonna do it. To them,

it's right.

Because once another cop leads a little too heavy.

I'll tell you, with a guy like Zerio, I wouldn't want to be O 'Connor.

Let's just hope that the grand jury is a lot more impartial than any of us.

Have a pleasant walk.

What do you say we pony express these in the neighborhood and then we go and

eat, all right?

I'll take the stairs. My legs are younger than yours.

All right.

Let's do it then before mine get any older.

And I'll tell you what.

If my legs don't collapse, young 'un, I'll buy you dinner. Come on.

Hey, baby, what's your rush?

I'm worried about my mother. The doctor came again.

I want to talk to you a minute. Then walk me down the block.

Hey, man, what them pigs did to Hector? Please, I don't want to talk about it.

We've been talking to the cops.

They wanted to check my story.

So? So they asked why I changed it. So?

So, Mr. Dario came in. So, I didn't say nothing.

What do you want, Chino? I know where I come from.

Hey, it bothers you.

I'm lying.

He's a cop.

Chino, my brother is dead. We can't bring him back. Hey, you could get me

lot of trouble. Don't put your hands on me.

Hey, you better not forget where you came from. Otherwise, I'll help you

remember.

You like being slapped, don't you?

Hey, man, I know my rights, and I ain't gonna say nothing to nobody.

Oh, all right, then, Crocker, don't bother reading it to him.

This is the way it ends up.

Lies on top of lies, until everybody's afraid to tell the truth.

You know something? You change your story.

If you lied, then it's more than just remembering your brother.

Chino won't let you forget you lied.

He'll get you to lie again, other times, for other reasons.

And there you are.

So remember, you lie tomorrow, Gina will still be around to put your hair, to

hit you, whatever.

And for whatever reason, he just didn't.

Hector was my brother.

Who could I say was going to shoot a cop?

He was my brother.

This is a battle. We each fight for our side.

Let's look at it that way. Mr. Serio, do you feel that the two police officers

assigned to your district are qualified?

Not now.

You're professionals.

You're an honest man. I try to be.

So that's all this is. You win some, you get commendations. I win some, we get

street light and a park.

Alicia Diaz.

So we might...

Need each other one day.

There's no need for bitterness.

Mr. Zerio, we're not talking about Lamparth.

We're talking about two men. Two of my men.

Two of your police officers. And you know what you're doing?

You're crucifying them before the facts.

Lieutenant, I assure you, I didn't wish to hang anyone.

Oh, I know.

You know why?

Because she won't let you.

She's got guts.

She's got integrity.

And she don't want to hang anyone either.

Mr. Zerio, the judge would like to see you again for a moment.

Excuse me. Sure.

Wavers of immunity.

They want us to send wavers of immunity.

She's going to tell the truth now. We've got nothing to worry about.

You're hurting. You win some, you lose some.

White, baby, suspended.

Fired.

It's going to be okay, I tell you.

Yeah.

Twelve years we've been trying.

Now she'll never be able to have one.

Why?

Even if I'm let off, you know as well as I do, I'm finished.

Read the papers. I've already been tried and executed.

What did I do?

Lieutenant Kojak.

Mr. Theriault, how did you look for an indictment? No decision yet. That's a

foregone conclusion, isn't it?

He did kill an unarmed boy.

Look, what is important here is that justice be served.

The officer's life, the boy's life, these are not the basics here. What

is the direction we're taking in our society.

What counts is the end result.

Innocent people suffer while the guilty go free?

No. This must stop. This must end.

One son for all, Chief Wilson.

Well, regardless of what happens here today, I can promise Mr. Zerio

and the people of his neighborhood full satisfaction regarding the method the

department uses to screen men for the anti -crime squad.

You believe Officer O 'Connor was prejudiced? I just feel that the whole

interdepartmental investigation of Officer O 'Connor, his record, his

toward the citizens of that area are in order.

I think that a tragedy like this must never happen again.

They voted no true bill.

You're both clean.

Hey, Lieutenant.

Listen, if I open my mouth, I, uh...

What did I say?

Don't say anything. Where's O 'Connor?

Across the street.

Come on, let's give him the good news.

How does it feel, Mr. Zario?

O 'Connor!

Do you know what you just did to yourself?

It doesn't matter, Lieutenant.

Empty.