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Lawrence O'Donnell
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Deadly Force: A Police Shooting and My Family's Search for the Truth Kindle Edition

by Lawrence O'Donnell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 253 ratings
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“An excellent case study of the Bowden killing” from the New York Times–bestselling author and host of MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (The Boston Globe).

Featuring a new preface and afterword by the author, Deadly Force is the riveting story of a 1975 police shooting of an unarmed black man in Boston—one of the first to draw national headlines—and the dramatic investigation and court case that followed.

On a rainy winter night, as James Bowden, Jr. left his mother’s Roxbury house in his Buick, two undercover officers sprang out, running toward his car. Shots were fired, and Bowden slumped over the wheel. Moments later, he was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. The police argued that they had fired in self-defense, claiming that Bowden was an armed robbery suspect and that after they had ordered him to stop, he had fired a shot at one of them. And multiple internal investigations by the Boston Police Department exonerated the officers involved.

But Patricia Bowden, James’s widow, knew better. “The truth will come out,” she said at her husband’s funeral. She sought a lawyer willing to take on the Boston Police Department and finally found one in Lawrence F. O’Donnell, the author’s father, a man whose past, unbeknownst to Patricia Bowden, made him the only man in town who could not refuse her case. O’Donnell embarked on a highly contentious three-year battle with the Boston Police Department to win justice for James Bowden.

Timelier than ever, Deadly Force is a powerful indictment of police misconduct, a reminder of this issue’s long, tortured history and of how far we still have to go.
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  1. Print length
    476 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    William Morrow Paperbacks
  5. Publication date
    June 26, 2018
  6. File size
    5779 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

A riveting chronicle...Painstakingly researched...It becomes apparent what must have happened on that sad, confused night in Boston.

-- "Newsday"

An excellent case study of the Bowden killing...A book that should fascinate sociologists, policemen, and lawyers, along with the layman.

-- "Boston Globe"

From the Back Cover

FEATURING A NEW PREFACE AND AFTERWORD BY THE AUTHOR

From the host of MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell comes the riveting story of a 1975 police shooting of an unarmed black man in Boston—one of the first to draw national headlines—and the dramatic investigation and court case that followed.

On a rainy winter night, James Bowden, Jr., left his mother’s house in Boston after a visit. As he guided his Buick out of his parking spot, an unmarked police car suddenly blocked his path. Two undercover officers sprang out, running toward his car. Shots were fired, and Bowden slumped over the wheel. Moments later, he was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. The police argued that they had fired in self-defense, claiming that Bowden was an armed robbery suspect and that after they had ordered him to stop, he had fired a shot at one of them. And multiple internal investigations by the Boston Police Department exonerated the officers involved.

But Patricia Bowden, James’s widow, knew better. “The truth will come out,” she said at her husband’s funeral. She sought a lawyer willing to take on the Boston Police Department and finally found one in Lawrence F. O’Donnell, the author’s father, a man whose past, unbeknownst to Patricia Bowden, made him the only man in town who could not refuse her case. O’Donnell embarked on a highly contentious three-year battle with the Boston Police Department to win justice for James Bowden.

More timely now than ever, Deadly Force is a powerful indictment of police misconduct, a reminder of this issue’s long, tortured history and of how far we still have to go.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0796SFCK3
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (June 26, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 26, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5779 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 476 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 253 ratings

About the author

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Lawrence O'Donnell

Lawrence O'Donnell

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Lawrence O’Donnell is the host of The Last Word on MSNBC. Formerly an Emmy Award-winning executive producer and writer for The West Wing, O’Donnell also served as senior adviser to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and was chief of staff of two Senate committees. O’Donnell is the New York Times bestselling author of Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics, and Deadly Force: A Police Shooting and My Family’s Search for the Truth. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
253 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Frances
5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting!
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2018
Verified Purchase
If you liked "To Kill a Mockingbird," you'll love this true crime account of a case against the Boston police for murder by Lawrence O'Donnell. Lawrence, working as a dogsbody while in college for his father's law firm, gives a first-person account of the investigation and trial preparation for the courageous, ground-breaking civil rights lawsuit against the Boston police for murder and cover-up.

The writing is riveting. The story is a terrible tragedy that we see in the headlines every day in nearly every city of America. This book helps us to understand how and why this happens. This book is about a landmark case that merits study by police and lawyers. The O'Donnell family made a good legal team. Here you get an inside look into how to handle this kind of the case. Lawrence's masterful writing brings the heartbreaking tragedy and fight for justice to life. Lawrence's father was a good speaker and commanding presence in a courtroom. He also had a heart. You need that kind of lawyer. Lawrence and his brother Michael did the leg work, staying up all night working, making phone calls, researching the evidence, researching the law, crafting precision arguments, indexing depositions, cross-referencing testimony, proof-reading, photocopying, carrying boxes to and from court, etc. You need that kind of team putting attention to detail. I worked in law firms for 35 years in San Francisco and New York City and I know something about being a dogsbody for hot-shot attorneys. It was, after all, in spite of working for big egos, satisfying work to see justice served. Now I'm retired and I love reading about justice being served. I wait with firm conviction that in this lifetime or in the next few months, the country will see justice served on crooked trump, his gang of thieves, his Putin cut-outs and enablers in Congress.
17 people found this helpful
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Eccentrically Insane
5.0 out of 5 stars Really cool historic book about getting justice
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
This was written in the 80s and has an update from 2014 (I think). It was so good, had me captivated. Ya know, when you're reading on the toilet and you ahould get up cuz your done but you dont cuz you're too into what you're reading? This is definitely a stay yoo long on toilet book! A stay up to late book. An I can't wait to get home so I can read more book.
In case you can't tell, I really enjoyed this book. Really!
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michael
4.0 out of 5 stars Then and now
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2021
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Deadly Force provides a picture of an earlier time when racial bias in policing was brushed over. As horrible as the same process is still, it is harder to hide or overlook. Slow
progress, when comparing time periods in the same geographic locations. We need to improve the pace.
2 people found this helpful
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Wendy Landers
5.0 out of 5 stars Many Reasons
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2017
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Lawrence goes into a lot of "day in the life" detail in his narrative, which means you can read it for several purposes. The first is the personal tragedy that this story tells. Make sure your nerves are steady before you start this book. Secondly, is history. If you don't know Boston, and/or you don't know the 1970s, this book will connect many dots as to what that life was like. The third read is everything that Lawrence implied. He's careful in his wording, but makes you question why people acted like they did. And if you need a story in perseverance, several people in the handful of concurrent narratives had to go from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C to just keep on going with their lives. I am beyond glad that he wrote this book.

For whatever reason, at one point I had thought Lawrence had written a sociology book, like a statistical compilation. This is definitely not a reference book on police brutality statistics. As sociology, it would have to be listed under qualitative data. I only mention this because I had spent many years mistaken as to this book's content.
45 people found this helpful
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Magnolia Jane
5.0 out of 5 stars So timely!
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020
Verified Purchase
I'm this time and circumstance, when the effect of policing on the lives of young black men has become a focus once again, this book described a case and trial from a few decades past. A lawyer makes a difference in the lives of a family of a young black man who was wrongfully killed in a botched police operation. It is a beautifully written book with a compelling truth. I highly recommend it to fans of Lawrence O'Donnell, to fans of the truth, for fans of justice, and for anyone who enjoys an uplifting read. The courtroom detail is mesmerizing.
4 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Reads Like Scott Turow, But it's True
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2018
Verified Purchase
I started it at 8 p.m., and stayed up until 5 the next morning to finish it. Tight, well-written account of a police shooting, cover up, and trial during the era of the Boston school busing riots. MUCH better than Turow's later novels, this is a nuanced portrait of the politics of the BPD's internal investigation; the legal fight to force the city to take responsibility for the actions of its officers; and the toll it took on the victim's family. Mr. O'Donnell's father, a former Boston police officer, was the trial attorney. Mr. O'Donnell worked as a paralegal on the case. The combination gives him unique insight into how a bad shooting happens, and the political scramble towards cover up.
27 people found this helpful
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Eric Long
5.0 out of 5 stars A true story of cops protecting cops
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2018
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The account of how police officers bungled a simple stake out of a vehicle thought to be used in an armed robbery. When the car owner returned, police closed in. What follows is the focus of the book. An unarmed black man with no criminal history is dead. A series of attempts to to justify the shooting does not add up. The widow of the victim finds a willing lawyer to persue a civil rights case. A years long search for the truth and justice is carefully written.
5 people found this helpful
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LinM.
3.0 out of 5 stars Wordy.
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2019
Verified Purchase
Too many details and drags on too much.
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Top reviews from other countries

Terrence Edgar
5.0 out of 5 stars Great civil rights trial book
Reviewed in Canada on August 24, 2018
Verified Purchase
I saw the author Lawrence O'Donnell Jr from MSNBC on Colbert talking about how he had just reissued this book that he had written over 35 years ago. It is about a civil rights case that his lawyer father, a former cop, brought against two Boston police officers for shooting to death an unarmed black man.

The book is an interesting study of the racism and us-versus-them mentality of the Boston Police Deartment back in the eighties. But more importantly for me it is a page-turner describing all the trial and pre-trial details involved with bringing an unjust death case against Boston police officers in front of an all-white jury when the victim is black. I found it impossible to put the book down and was up reading past 2 a.m. for 2 nights in a row wondering if Mr. O'Donnell's father would be able to win the case. Also if he did win would the victim's widow ever be able to get the City of Boston to pay the judgment because the City still insisted that the cops were completely justified in shooting the innocent victim.

I am not going to provide any spoilers so you will have to read it yourself if you want to know how it turns out.
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