Justifiable Homicide (2002)

Synopsis: JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE, directed by Jonathan Stack and Jon Osman, is an intense and pointed documentary that explores the high incidence of police brutality in New York City in the mid-to-late 1990s... JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE, directed by Jonathan Stack and Jon Osman, is an intense and pointed documentary that explores the high incidence of police brutality in New York City in the mid-to-late 1990s under the administration of Mayor Rudolf Giuliani. The film centers on the deaths of two teenage Puerto Rican boys, Antonio Rosario and Hilton Vega, who were shot and killed by police officers during a conflict in the Bronx. Although the police report called it "justifiable homicide," independent investigations by pathologists, the Civil Complaint Review Board (CCRB), and an eye witness revealed that the boys were shot multiple times, in the back, as they were lying face-down on the floor of an apartment, unarmed. When Margarita Rosario (the mother of Antonio and aunt of Hilton Vega) formed a group called Parents Against Police Brutality, throngs of troubled people came forward with their stories of unfair police treatment resulting in deaths of young men from minority groups. From there, the film shows Margarita's efforts to raise awareness--instructing young men how to avoid police brutality, and organizing protests against police and city cover-ups in an effort to make the issue public. A moving, political, and eye-opening film, JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE sheds light on an important, and often overlooked, chapter in New York City history. This film screened in June 2002 in New York City as part of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival copresented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Human Rights Watch. [More]

Director: Jon Osman, Jonathan Stack

Director: Jon Osman, Jonathan Stack