He's In Prison For Killing A Trooper. Now, Some Black Police Groups Want Him Released

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/26/ [login to see] /sundiata-acoli-new-jersey-black-panther-parole
Nearly 50 years after the arrest of a member of the Black Panther Party for the killing of a New Jersey state trooper, activists and even some law enforcement groups are ramping up the fight for his release.

Sundiata Acoli, now 84, was arrested in 1973 and later convicted in the death of State Trooper Werner Foerster.

On the night of the shooting, Acoli (born Clark Edward Squire) had been traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike with two others when they were pulled over for a defective taillight. A shootout ensued, leaving both Foerster and one of Acoli's companions, Zayd Shakur, dead. The third person in the car, Assata Shakur (born JoAnne Chesimard), was wounded.

The details about how the shooting began have been heavily debated for years: Police said Shakur fired first, according to a 1977 account in The New York Times. Shakur said at trial that she was shot first with her arms raised in surrender.

Acoli has maintained that he was shot, lost consciousness and does not remember what happened that night, according to The Washington Post. Both he and Shakur were sentenced to life in prison, though Shakur famously escaped and later resurfaced in Cuba.