The Leon Smith Shooting

Michael Brown. Tamir Rice. Trayvon Martin. For many Americans, these are familiar names whose deaths at the hands of police are recalled with pain and anger. Each boy was unarmed, underage, and black. But the truth is that similar incidents stretch back through the decades, even if the names of the victims have been largely forgotten. One such name is Leon Smith. In August 1970, the 14-year-old Brookline boy was shot and killed by a Brookline cop at the tail-end of a car chase in a residential area near Boston College. Smith carried no weapon.

What ended as a tragedy began as a joyride. In the early afternoon of August 11, 1970, two boys, 16 and 14, were walking through Brookline’s Washington Square and happened across a green Ford station wagon with the keys in the ignition. Jumping into the car, they drove it to a pizza place on Commonwealth Avenue, where they met up with a friend, Leon Smith, who was headed to 9th grade at the Lincoln School in the fall. After a couple of hours hanging in the pizza joint, the three boys clambered back into the stolen car and drove towards Cleveland Circle, where the Ford’s license plates, now on the wire, were spotted by Brookline officer Robert Dubuque. He soon radioed ahead to officer James Reddish, who joined what was quickly turning into a high-speed pursuit through Brookline and towards Chestnut Hill.  

At the corner of Mayflower and Quincy in Newton, the boys fishtailed around a turn and crashed into a parked car. All three teenagers jumped out and scattered, but while two of his friends would eventually be apprehended, Leon Smith sprinted down Mayflower Road, pursued by Officer Reddish on foot with his gun drawn. Smith veered between two upscale residential houses and ducked into the two-car garage behind 37 Mayflower Road. As Officer Reddish rounded the corner, a witness, watching from a window just five feet from the officer, described what happened next: “Reddish ran up the driveway, stopped completely; raised his hand with the gun in it to a position between his waist and his shoulder and fired in the direction of the garage.” The shot would prove fatal. The bullet pierced the garage door which Smith was cowering behind and hit him directly in the abdomen, causing almost immediate internal hemorrhaging.  Some minutes later, Smith arrived DOA at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. 

300 people would attend Smith’s funeral at the United Parish of Brookline where Rev. Victor Scalise called Smith’s death “shameful” and railed against gun use in American society. Meanwhile, pending an investigation, Reddish was ordered to desk duty and stripped of his gun. That gun was now the center of the investigation, as it was soon shown that it had fired the fatal shot. In explanation, Reddish initially claimed that the gun went off accidentally when he slipped on some wet grass making the turn toward the garage. But he soon changed his story to say that he was actually attempting to fire a warning shot into the air when his foot slipped, causing the bullet to fly toward the garage door. Although, Reddish was initially charged with manslaughter and assault with a dangerous weapon, Newton District Court Judge James Larkin, without lengthy explanation, ruled that there was “no probable cause’’ to refer the case to a grand jury. Middlesex County District Attorney John Droney soon dropped all charges against Reddish. 

There was still the question of Reddish’s status with the police. The board of selectmen, in their capacity as police commissioners, ordered their own investigation, and called upon Newton District Judge Franklin Flaschner to get to the bottom of what happened. 

Flaschner spent three days calling witnesses and reviewing the evidence. His conclusion: Reddish’s use of his gun was “not justified and contributed to the death of Leon K. Smith.” The judge continued: “Officer Reddish was not in jeopardy. He did not have an adequate reason to put others in jeopardy. Smith was not and did not appear to be armed. He was running away on foot in a congested residential neighborhood…He was about to be cornered and captured and [the situation] did not warrant any shooting of live ammunition.” He called Reddish’s warning shot claim “not credible.”

Despite the protest of fellow Brookline police officers, the selectmen ordered Reddish to duty inside the police station and reduced his salary. But even this condemnation proved short-lived. Just four years later, the board of selectmen voted unanimously to reinstate James Reddish to regular police duty and full pay. Commenting to the press, Chairman Robert Cochrane called Reddish “a model patrolman.” He went on to say that Reddish had “served his penance” and “shown good spirit.” Cochrane made no mention to the gathered reporters on the spirit of Leon Smith’s family.