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Oct. 24, 1996: The day the tension exploded

A photograph captures the raw emotion stoked by the police shooting of TyRon Lewis during a traffic stop in Midtown a decade ago.

By JON WILSON
Published October 22, 2006

St. Petersburg Times photographer Brian Baer was in Seminole on Oct. 24, 1996, shooting an assignment he doesn't remember.

But he does remember the late afternoon message to get back quick. Trouble was brewing in Midtown, and it was heating up.

At roughly 5:38 p.m., gunshots rang out at 16th Street S and 18th Avenue.

A white police officer, James Knight, had shot and killed a young black man, TyRon Lewis, during a traffic stop when Lewis let his car roll forward, bumping Knight several times.

A grumbling crowd gathered, gradually growing. Police called for backup. The two sides faced off across the crime scene tape.

Tensions continued to mount until about 90 minutes after the shooting, when the situation exploded.

People in the crowd surged toward the officers. Police, led by Chief Darrel Stephens and district Cmdr. Cedric Gordon, tried to hold them back.

"I was out there from the very beginning. Everything was initially fairly quiet. Then the misinformation and rumors started spreading. Before you knew it, this is what happened," said Gordon, now an assistant chief.

The clash became widely identified as the beginning of a night of violence, flames and fear.

Baer, standing near an old gas station on the intersection's northwest corner, captured the moment.

The image Baer made went a long way. People say they still remember seeing it in the Times and other media. College textbooks picked it up, students recall.

It is a study in tension, frustration, resolve and anger. It captures expression and action. It records a turning point and in some ways, symbolizes an explosion of resentment tamped down for years.

"It completely escalated. It was extremely tense out there. I was somewhat surprised," Gordon said. "I've been in some pretty tough situations. But one of that magnitude, no."

Baer said he and some other media people had been watching, chatting with Lilla Davis, then the Police Department's spokeswoman.

"The crowd was getting agitated. (Davis) was saying, if you (media) guys left, this problem would calm down. As she was saying that, that's when I heard the first bottle go 'crash,' " Baer said.

Said Gordon: "I think we had a crime scene set up and had asked people not to cross the perimeter. One person came across. We asked others to move back, but they didn't."

Then came the charge. Gordon estimated that at first, about 25 men faced a roughly similar number of officers.

Shouting and hard objects filled the air.

"People just started picking everything up and started to throw it on the police," Baer said.

A piece of debris hit one officer in the face, Gordon said. That officer is not present in the photograph.

In the middle of the photo is Stephens, appearing to reach forward with his left hand. A Jimmy Buffett fan regarded as a relatively laid-back chief, Stephens was wearing jeans and a polo shirt on this day. Now chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., police, Stephens didn't return a phone call asking to talk about the moment caught in the photo.

Gordon appears to be on the point, shown a couple of paces in front of Stephens.

Most of the police officers pictured are still working in law enforcement, either in St. Petersburg or in other departments.

The residents who charged them have remained publicly unidentified by name.

"I know I don't remember names. But I knew some of the folks," Gordon said.

Most were neighborhood residents, said Dwight "Chimurenga" Waller, local president of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement. He declined to name any.

Waller was not there, but he said the aggression did not surprise him.

"I think this particular incident actually enraged the people," Waller said. He said the large police and media presence further inflamed the crowd.

The initial fracas lasted a couple of minutes, gradually blending into disorder that reached blocks beyond the ground-zero intersection.

"It just kept growing. It was everywhere. It was getting darker and stuff started happening all around us," Baer recalled.

It would last until the early morning hours of Oct. 25.

[Last modified October 23, 2006, 08:01:31]