Editing Assata Shakur (section)

==New Jersey Turnpike shootout==
On May 2, 1973, at about 12:45 a.m.,<ref name="sullivan">Sullivan, Joseph F. (May 3 or 4th, 1973). "[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0E11F93E54137A93C1A9178ED85F478785F9 Panther, Trooper Slain in Shoot-Out]", ''The New York Times'', p. 1.</ref> Assata Shakur, along with Zayd Malik Shakur and [[Sundiata Acoli]], were stopped on the [[New Jersey Turnpike]] in [[East Brunswick Township, New Jersey|East Brunswick]] for driving with a broken tail light by State Trooper James Harper, backed up by Trooper Werner Foerster in a second patrol vehicle.<ref name="wag2"/> The vehicle was "slightly" exceeding the speed limit.<ref name="sullivan"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Burrough|first1=Bryan|title=Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence|date=2016|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=9780143107972|page=246|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PAvTCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA246|language=en}}</ref> Recordings of Trooper Harper calling the dispatcher were played at the trials of both Acoli and Assata Shakur.<ref name="wag2">Waggoner, Walter H. (February 14, 1977). "[https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/17/archives/jury-in-chesimard-murder-trail-listens-to-state-police-radio-tapes.html Jury in Chesimard Murder Trial Listens to State Police Radio Tapes]", ''The New York Times'', p. 83.</ref><ref name="johnston3"/>

The stop occurred {{convert|200|yd|m|0}} south of what was then the Turnpike Authority administration building.<ref name="sullivan"/><ref name="johnston3">Johnston, Richard J. (February 20, 1974). "Squires Jurors Hear Chase Tape". ''The New York Times'', p. 78.</ref><ref name="kirsta">Kirsta, Alix (May 29, 1999), "A black and white case&nbsp;– Investigation&nbsp;– Joanne Chesimard", ''The Times''.</ref> Acoli was driving the two-door vehicle, Assata Shakur was seated in the right front seat, and Zayd Shakur was in the right rear seat.<ref name="johnston2"/>{{efn|Note that the ''New York Times'' source given here reverses the roles of Zayd Shakur and Acoli.}} Trooper Harper asked the driver for identification, noticed a discrepancy, asked him to get out of the car, and questioned him at the rear of the vehicle.<ref name="sullivan"/>

With the questioning of Acoli, accounts by participants of the confrontation begin to differ (see the [[#Witnesses|witnesses section]] below).<ref name="sul3"/> A shootout ensued in which Trooper Foerster was shot twice in the head with his own gun and killed,<ref name="wag2"/><ref name="sul3"/> Zayd Shakur was killed, and Assata Shakur and Trooper Harper were wounded.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tithes |first=Joseph F. Sullivan Special to The New Tort |date=1973-05-03 |title=PANTHER, TROOPER SLAIN IN SHOOT‐OUT |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/03/archives/panther-trooper-slain-in-shootout-woman-sought-in-killing-of.html |access-date=2025-01-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

According to initial police statements, at this point one or more of the suspects had begun firing with semiautomatic handguns, and Trooper Foerster fired four times before falling mortally wounded.<ref name="sullivan"/> At Acoli's trial, Harper testified that the gunfight started "seconds" after Foerster arrived at the scene.<ref name="johnston2">Johnston, Richard J. (February 14, 1974). "[https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/14/archives/trooper-recalls-shooting-on-pike-testifies-squire-was-in-car-with.html Trooper Recalls Shooting on Pike]", ''The New York Times'', p. 86. Retrieved June 17, 2008.</ref> At this trial, Harper said that Foerster reached into the vehicle, pulled out and held up a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition magazine, and said "Jim, look what I found,"<ref name="johnston2"/> while facing Harper at the rear of the vehicle.<ref name="johnston4">Johnston, Richard J. H. (March 9, 1974). "Jury Deliberations Begin in Murder Trial of Squire", ''The New York Times'', p. 64.</ref> The police ordered Assata Shakur and Zayd Shakur to put their hands on their laps and not to move; Harper said that Assata Shakur reached down to the right of her right leg, pulled out a pistol, and shot him in the shoulder, after which he retreated to behind his vehicle. Questioned by prosecutor C. Judson Hamlin, Harper said he saw Foerster shot just as Assata Shakur was hit by bullets from Harper's gun.<ref name="johnston2"/> In his opening statement to a jury, Hamlin said that Acoli shot Foerster with a .38 caliber semiautomatic pistol and used Foerster's own gun to "execute him".<ref>Johnston, Richard H. (February 13, 1974). "Squire Charged With 'Execution'", ''The New York Times'', p. 84.</ref> According to the testimony of State Police investigators, two jammed semi-automatic pistols were discovered near Foerster's body.<ref name="sul"/>

Acoli drove the car (a white [[Pontiac LeMans]] with Vermont license plates)<ref name="kirsta"/>—which contained Assata Shakur, who was wounded, and Zayd Shakur, who was dead or dying—{{convert|5|mi|km|0}} down the road.<ref name="wag2"/><ref name="sullivan"/> The vehicle was chased by three patrol cars and the booths down the turnpike were alerted. Acoli stopped and exited the car and, after being ordered to halt by a trooper, fled into the woods as the trooper emptied his gun.<ref name="sullivan"/> Assata Shakur walked toward the trooper with her bloodied arms raised in surrender.<ref name="sullivan"/> Acoli was captured after a 36-hour manhunt—involving 400 people, state police helicopters, and [[bloodhound]]s.<ref name="sullivan"/><ref name="sullivan2">Sullivan, Joseph F. (May 4, 1973). "Gunfight Suspect Caught in Jersey", ''The New York Times'', p. 41.</ref><ref>Kupendua, Marpessa (January 28, 1998), "[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/090.html Sundiata Acoli]", ''Revolutionary Worker''. No. 94. Retrieved on May 9, 2008.</ref> Zayd Shakur's body was found in a nearby gully along the road.<ref name="sullivan"/>

According to a New Jersey Police spokesperson, Assata Shakur was on her way to a "new hideout in Philadelphia" and "heading ultimately for Washington". A book in the vehicle was said to contain a list of potential BLA targets.<ref name="sullivan"/> Assata Shakur testified she was on her way to [[Baltimore]] for a job as a bar waitress.<ref name="sul2"/>

With gunshot wounds in both arms and a shoulder, Assata Shakur was moved to [[Middlesex General Hospital]] under "heavy guard" and was reported to be in "serious condition". Trooper Harper was wounded in the left shoulder, reported in "good" condition, and given a protective guard at the hospital.<ref name="sullivan"/><ref name="sullivan2"/> Assata Shakur was interrogated and arraigned from her hospital bed.<ref>Tomlinson, 1994, p. 144.</ref>

Her defense team alleged that her medical care during this period was "substandard".<ref name="africana"/><ref>Jones, 1998, p. 397.</ref><ref>[[Angela Davis|Davis, Angela Yvonne]]. 2003. ''Are Prisons Obsolete?'' [[Seven Stories Press]]; {{ISBN|1-58322-581-1}}, p. 62.</ref><ref>Dandridge, Rita B. 1992. ''Black Women's Blues: A Literary Anthology, 1934–1988''. Maxwell Macmillan International; {{ISBN|0-8161-9084-4}}, p. 113.</ref> 

She was transferred from Middlesex General Hospital in New Brunswick to [[Roosevelt Hospital (Edison, New Jersey)|Roosevelt Hospital]] in [[Edison, New Jersey|Edison]] after her lawyers obtained a court order from Judge John Bachman,<ref>''The New York Times'' (May 15, 1973). "Miss Chesimard Transferred", p. 83.</ref> and then transferred to Middlesex County Workhouse a few weeks later.<ref>''The New York Times'' (June 5, 1973). "Black Militant Transferred", p. 88.</ref>

During an interview, Assata Shakur discussed her treatment by the police and medical staff at Middlesex General Hospital. She said that the police beat and choked her and were "doing everything that they could possibly do as soon as the doctors or nurses would go outside".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wahad|first1=Dhoruba Bin|display-authors=et al|title=Still Black, Still Strong: Survivors of the U.S. War against Black Revolutionaries|date=1993|publisher=Semiotext(e)|pages=205–206}}</ref>