On December 19, 1985, Samuel Agresta Jr. was shot in the back of the head by police following a high speed chase through South Philadelphia. The police were trying to arrest Agresta on a complaint filed by a disgruntled employee of Agresta's who earlier that evening, had broken into Agresta's warehouse. Philadelphia Police Officers testified that Agresta had shot at them, but no gun was ever found on his body or in his car.
Based on a complaint provided by Thomas Spurka, a salesman for Agresta's telephone installation business, police devised an undercover operation to arrest Agresta when Spurka said he was kidnapped. When that plan went horribly wrong, an incompetent police action led to the death of an innocent man.
Washington D.C. reporter, Viki Reath and an independent filmmaker Joseph Oxman, have produced an absorbing documentary on the death of Samuel Aresta Jr. that raises disturbing questions for all of us who depend on the competence and integrity of the police.
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