According to historical reports of the infamous day, Ruben and a follow journalist had escaped the violence to have a beer at the Silver Dollar Bar on Whittier Boulevard.
A Govea
honors issued posthumously and even a Corrido by Lalo Guerrero entitled “El 29 de Augusto”
Around the corner from the bar was the Green Mill LiquorStore, and according to police reports they called in for help. According to the police report they reported people coming in to steal, (the owners later denied ever calling the police.) The police responded, and a fight broke out. According to thepolice some in the crowd went into the bar and one of them reportedly had a gun. They did not find a person with a gun or a gun. Deputy Thomas Wilson fired a 10- inch tear gas projectile (the type normally used in barricade situations, not to be shot at people) into the bar which tore off half the head of Ruben Salazar and killed him instantly. 51 years later this image still haunts me.
The coroner’s inquest ruled the death a homicide but, as they did not prosecute Tom Wilson. A coroner’s jury split in its findings: no charges were ever filed with the District Attorney’s Office. However, Salazar’s family settled with Los Angeles County for $700,000. They were found to have not used proper and lawful guidelines for the use of deadly force.
There have been many articles and books written about this time in Chicano history and Rubens’ place in it. Perhaps one of the most famous was an article written by Hunter S. Thompson in 1971 for Rolling Stone Magazine titled “Strange rumblings in Aztlan” In doing the research for his article he had a series of interviews with Oscar Acosta a lawyer and civil rights activist. They did part of the interviews and writing of this story in Las Vegas which then led to the book and later movie “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This 1998 movie starred Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro and was for its time one of the wildest movies out there. (I liked the movie but many at the time were like “What the hell is this”)
The Park where the march took place is now Ruben Salazar Park, in 2008 the US Post Office issued a stamp with his image. There have been many more awards and honors issued posthumously and even a Corrido by Lalo Guerrero entitled “El 29 de Augusto”
References;
Demoocracy.org Retrieved September 3, 2010, El Paso Times September 3, 2010.
Los Angeles Times February 6, 1970, Perry Paul 2004, Fear and Loathing; The strange and terrible saga of Hunter S. Thompson, Thunder’s Mouth Press
And others unknown