Chicano History 101: On March 17, 1973, the Denver Police raided Denver’s Crusade For Justice.
By JUAN ESPINOSA
DENVER — Luis “Junior” Martinez was fatally wounded by a Denver police officer 53 years ago this week, in what has become know as the St. Patrick’s Day raid on the Crusade for Justice. Ernesto Vigil also was shot, but survived — both were shot in the back, according to Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, the late founder and leader of the Crusade.
In the aftermath of the raid, at least 19 individuals associated with the Crusade and it’s Escuela Tlatelolco were badly beaten and 36 were arrested. One wall and a portion of the roof of the school’s dormitory were blown out by an explosion.
The following excerpts are from El Diario de la Gente newspaper and written by this reporter when I was a student at the University in Boulder.
“Luis Martinez was murdered,” Gonzales told a group that gathered at the Crusade headquarters Sunday.
“The young people who were shot, arrested and brutalized were provoked into resistance. It was a planned attack,” Gonzales said. He made reference to a Black woman who had attended a party at one of the apartments where the gun battle took place. She was “the same Black woman in police uniform who shot Ernesto Vigil in the back” later that night, he said. The incident took place on the 1500 block of Downing where the Crusade and the apartment complex owned by the Escuela Tlatelolco are located.
The three-hour gun battle began shortly after midnight when Patrolman Stephen Snyder and Policewoman Carol Hogue parked across the street from the apartment building. A young man, later identified as Martinez, walked across the street and asked what they were doing. When they did not answer he persisted and was then told he had jaywalked. They asked for identification and a small group formed around the patrol car. Snyder ordered them away and they complied. Then Martinez bolted from the car with Snyder in pursuit. The Denver Post said in Sunday’s paper that Hogue followed the two in the patrol car. “She got out and found Snyder, bleeding from the two wounds. He told her he had just shot the suspect and was shot by him, the report said.”
Gonzales said, “Luis Martinez was not shot in a front-to-front confrontation with Stephen Snyder, but was shot in the back.”
During the confrontation, an explosion ripped out one wall and part of the roof of one of the second story apartments. Police have estimated the explosion had the force of 20 sticks of dynamite, but they are still investigating the cause of the blast.
On Saturday demoliton teams began destruction of the blast site. This was against the requests of Ken Padilla, a MALDEF attorney who is investigating the incident. Padilla asked that he be permitted to bring in an independent investigation team to determine the cause of the explosion. District Attorney Dale Tooley told Padilla to document the need for an immediate independent investigation. Before he could acquire this documentation and shortly after Tooley had talked to him, Padilla said the wrecking crews had already begun the destruction of evidence.
Another person who was allegedly beaten was David Gonzales. He said he drove to the area to see what was happening. “I was dragged from my car and beaten,” he said. He told how an officer wrapped two sticks that were tied together with a leather strap around his neck and was strangling him. Several other officers reportedly joined in the beating as he was being dragged around the yard. “I was handcuffed during this time,” he said. Ramirez pointed out that many of the injuries reported by the police were broken toes. “They broke their toes on my head and the heads of my brothers, if anyone wants to know,” he said.
To put the raid on the Crusade into context, it is important to remember that in February 27, 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the trading post at Wounded Knee at Pine Ridge, S.D. In support of the AIM occupation, members of the Crusade organized a march and demonstration to the Federal Center in Downtown Denver. At about the same time, the FBI issued a bulletin alleging that the Crusade was providing guns and munitions to AIM. The assault on the Crusade took place 20 days after the beginning of the siege at Wounded Knee.
The majority of those arrested and charged during the siege at the Crusade, most were found not guilty. The jury in Ernesto Vigil’s trial for attempted murder ended in his acquittal. Mario Vasquez was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to prison. While in prison, Vasquez mysteriously escaped and has never been recaptured.