REAP THE WHIRLWIND

A largely forgotten incident of racist policing and its tragic consequences form the heart of this fast-paced narrative.

In March 1985 in San Diego, writes Houlahan, author of Norco ’80, a belligerent police officer decided that a pickup truck containing young Black men needed to be rousted on suspicion of gang activity. Although the driver was “a soft-spoken and idealistic young man who believed his Buddhist chants could bring about the oneness of humanity,” in an act of self-defense while being beaten, he wrested a gun from one officer, killed a cop, and wounded a second one and a civilian ride-along. Sagon Penn soon surrendered himself to the police. Put on trial, he was proven to be justified, thanks in part to testimony from a witness who’d called 911 to “report some police brutality right in front of my house.” He was acquitted of several charges, but others were retained for a second trial that dragged the process out for more than two years, exposing a pattern of police violence and racism—and, in the end, forcing reforms. Even though acquitted a second time, Penn was broken by the criminal proceedings. Of all the meaningful statements from dozens of people that Houlahan interviewed, the most memorable comes from Penn himself, who said, “Sagon Penn was killed that night too….He no longer exists.” A tragedy from whatever point of view, Penn’s story foreshadows many others, from Rodney King to George Floyd and beyond. “Never before in American History had a young Black man admitted to killing a police officer and been found not guilty by a jury for having acted in self-defense,” noted Penn’s lawyer. Nonetheless, he said, “there is nothing to celebrate. This story began as a tragedy, and it ends as a tragedy.”

An assumption-shaking true-crime narrative that transports readers onto the street and into the courtroom.