Remembering Officer Daniel Faulkner: Murdered by Black Panther Mumia Abu Jamal on December 9, 1981

Officer Daniel Faulkner was murdered by the Black Panther
Mumia Abu Jamal 26 years ago today on December 9, 1981. The Black Panthers were a communist organization that followed Mao Zedong.

Daniel Faulkner's widow Maureen was was on FOX News today and told how Mumia's supporters spit on her and persecute her. Arrogant, vain movie stars also defend this criminal instead of supporting his widow.

Now Mrs. Faulkner has written a book about her husband called Murdered by Mumia. An excerpt from the book is on the Today Show (12-6-07).

Mrs. Faulkner has a website with detailed information about her husband's murder and appears in a TV interview on the Today Show.

The site explains:

On December 9, 1981, at approximately 3:55 a.m., Officer Danny Faulkner, a five year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, made a traffic stop at Locust Street near Twelfth Street. The car stopped by Officer Faulkner was being driven by William Cook. After making the stop, Danny called for assistance on his police radio and requested a police wagon to transport a prisoner. Unbeknownst to him, William Cook's brother, Wesley (aka Mumia Abu-Jamal) was across the street. As Danny attempted to handcuff William Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal ran from across the street and shot the officer in the back. Danny turned and was able to fire one shot that struck Abu-Jamal in the chest; the wounded officer then fell to the pavement. Mumia Abu-Jamal stood over the downed officer and shot him four more times at close range, once directly in the face. Mumia Abu-Jamal was found still at the scene of the shooting by officers who arrived there within seconds. The murderer was slumped against the curb in front of his brother's car. In his possession was a .38 caliber revolver that records showed Mumia had purchased months earlier. The chamber of the gun had five spent cartridges. A cab driver, as well as other pedestrians, had witnessed the brutal slaying and identified Mumia Abu-Jamal as the killer both at the scene and during his trial. On July 2, 1982, after being tried before a jury of ten whites and two blacks, Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of murdering Officer Danny Faulkner. The next day, the jury sentenced him to death after deliberating for two hours. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania heard the defendant's appeals and upheld the conviction on March 6, 1989.