James E. Davis (councilman)

James E. Davis (April 3, 1962 – July 23, 2003) was a New York City police officer, corrections officer and council member. He was killed by a fellow politician in New York City Hall, in a bizarre instance of political rivalry turned violent.

Davis was born and raised in Brooklyn, the son of a corrections officer and a registered nurse. He spent his early childhood in Bedford-Stuyvesant before his family moved to Crown Heights.

He earned a bachelor's degree at Pace University in social science and youth agency administration. He became a corrections officer at Rikers Island after being beaten by two white police officers, and then became a police officer himself in 1991. In 1990, Davis had started an organization called "Love Yourself Stop the Violence" dedicated to stopping violence in urban America. The NYPD soon assigned Davis to its police academy as an instructor, and he became a frequent guest on local radio and television programs.

Davis eventually qualified as a minister at Holy Trinity Baptist Church of Brooklyn and became a District Leader and then a council member for Brooklyn's 35th Council district in November 2001.

The template for his successful City Council bid had been established by previous races against Assemblyman and Democratic Kings County Chairman Clarence Norman Jr., who narrowly defeated him in 1998. The campaign against the politically powerful Norman — and Davis' high profile generally — ruffled feathers within the NYPD, and Davis was fired for violating a rule that prohibits paid city employees from engaging in electoral politics. In that November's election his name was on the ballot on the old Liberal Party of New York line, for which Davis was fired from the NYPD. After pursuing litigation against the police department, Davis' claim that he never formally accepted the Liberal Party nomination was upheld and he was allowed to reclaim his job. He was not, however, permitted to return to his former detail at the police academy, instead being assigned to a night shift at a Brooklyn precinct.

...
Wikipedia