No criminals escape, even 30 years later — right?

This is pretty amazing. The Canadian Newspaper, the Globe and Mail reports that the RCMP arrested a man who has been living in Toronto for decades for a shooting of a police officer in Chicago 30 years ago. Douglas Freeman, the police say, is really Joseph Coleman Pannell, a Black Panther who shot police officer Terrence Knox in Chicago in 1969. Knox was shot in the arm and went on to a long career in law enforcement at the end of which he retired.


This is pretty amazing. The Canadian Newspaper, the Globe and Mail reports that the RCMP arrested a man who has been living in Toronto for decades for a shooting of a police officer in Chicago 30 years ago. Douglas Freeman, the police say, is really Joseph Coleman Pannell, a Black Panther who shot police officer Terrence Knox in Chicago in 1969. Knox was shot in the arm and went on to a long career in law enforcement at the end of which he retired.

Here’s a quote from Mr. Knox, who is very relieved that Pannell has been caught:

Although the case is more than 35 years old, Mr. Knox said it has never left him. “He’s been in my mind every day,” he said. “Whoever’s been shot never forgets it.”

Mr. Knox is inaccurate, of course. Fred Hampton, a Black Panther, was shot in Chicago. Quite a lot of times, in Chicago, as he lay in his bed. Shot by police, in fact. 30 years ago. Hampton didn’t express any recollections of being shot, since the COINTELPRO agents who asssassinated him made sure he was dead. The people responsible for Hampton’s assassination, and the many, many murders of not only activists but ordinary members of the Black community in the decades since, haven’t been brought to justice.

But members of organizations that they victimized continue to be hunted down, even outside of the United States.

Author: Justin Podur

Author of Siegebreakers. Ecology. Environmental Science. Political Science. Anti-imperialism. Political fiction. Teach at York U's FES. Author. Writer at ZNet, TeleSUR, AlterNet, Ricochet, and the Independent Media Institute.

8 thoughts on “No criminals escape, even 30 years later — right?”

  1. your need to read the
    your need to read the records before making open comments like you did.

    Mr. Knox is very correct that in the U.S. it is illegal to shoot a police officer. This is called attempted murder and Joseph Pannell has been avoiding a day in court in place of making his stand and presentring his case.

  2. I wonder if all the bleeding
    I wonder if all the bleeding heart, ill informed morons who cry about this criminal being arrested and held for extradition would be so insistent about stopping the process if it was one of their family members who was shot by this guy? Have any of you heard of this little thing called personal accountability? You break the law, not the white man’s law, but the law of the land, and you stand and take your punishment.

  3. The above post by “Terry” is
    The above post by “Terry” is in fact Terrence Knox. He’s at it again. What a fake!!!!!!!

  4. Hey Scooter,
    According to

    Hey Scooter,

    According to what I have been reading (and I do understand what I am reading), Pannell defended his life – it was SELF DEFENSE. You should really question your reading ability. Perhaps you are the ill informed moron.

  5. Re: Post by Terry.
    It is my

    Re: Post by Terry.

    It is my understanding that it is ILLEGAL to shoot any HUMAN, not only in Chicago, the law extends WORLD-WIDE. S U R P R I S E!!!!!!!!!!

  6. So how exactly would someone
    So how exactly would someone who is dead remember being shot? However sonce you brought it up apparently someone remebers the incident and has felt the pain of what occured therfore the situation should be reconsiled to ease the pain of those affected by the crime.

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