In March of 1969, Joseph Pannell repeatedly shot a (correction) Chicago beat cop, Terrence Knox; three bullets hit Knox resulting in permanent damage to his arm. Knox is now asking that authorities not let Pannell back into Canada where his family resides.
Pannell was arrested and faced charges but skipped bail in 1973 and spent the next 31 years hiding out under an assumed name in Canada. Going by the name Douglas Gary Freeman, Pannell married a Canadian woman, raised four children and worked as a librarian for many years in Toronto.
A check of a fingerprint database led Chicago police to Pannell’s Canadian home in 2004. Pannell fought extradition for several years before agreeing to a plea bargain that saw him spend 30 days in prison, pay a $250,00 fine to a Chicago charity and spend two years on probation. With his probation now up, Pannell asked to return to Canada.
But the union representing the workers at the Toronto Public Library where Pannell was employed asked that their former colleague be allowed back into Canada. Mr. Pannell is a former member of the Black Panthers.
“Mr. Freeman poses no threat to anyone in Canada, and the United States government has posed no objection to his returning to Canada,” wrote union local president Brendan Haley. “We are requesting that you exercise your discretion in this matter, on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, to grant Gary Freeman a temporary resident permit that will allow him to be reunited with his Canadian wife and children.”
In March of 1969, Joseph Pannell repeatedly shot a (correction) Chicago beat cop, Terrence Knox; three bullets hit Knox resulting in permanent damage to his arm. Knox is now asking that authorities not let Pannell back into Canada where his family resides.
Pannell was arrested and faced charges but skipped bail in 1973 and spent the next 31 years hiding out under an assumed name in Canada. Going by the name Douglas Gary Freeman, Pannell married a Canadian woman, raised four children and worked as a librarian for many years in Toronto.
A check of a fingerprint database led Chicago police to Pannell’s Canadian home in 2004. Pannell fought extradition for several years before agreeing to a plea bargain that saw him spend 30 days in prison, pay a $250,00 fine to a Chicago charity and spend two years on probation. With his probation now up, Pannell asked to return to Canada.
But the union representing the workers at the Toronto Public Library where Pannell was employed asked that their former colleague be allowed back into Canada. Mr. Pannell is a former member of the Black Panthers.
“Mr. Freeman poses no threat to anyone in Canada, and the United States government has posed no objection to his returning to Canada,” wrote union local president Brendan Haley. “We are requesting that you exercise your discretion in this matter, on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, to grant Gary Freeman a temporary resident permit that will allow him to be reunited with his Canadian wife and children.”
Toronto Sun reports.
Article Summary needs to be fixed
This is an interesting story but the summary is terrible. The very first line is wrong, and it gets worse from there
No longer a threat
Officer Knox carries a lot of anger. Okay. I get it. The guy shot him. He has the right to be angry. But he’s in Chicago. Why does he insist on keeping Pannell in the USA? Why not send him north? It gets a bit petty, methinks, after 40 years of peacefully living in Toronto.
And the summary is all wrong. He didn’t shoot a Canadian cop, but a Chicago cop.
correction
thank you, it has been corrected.
He committed a crime and ran
I would have said a civil suit should be pending and get revenge/retribution that way.
I wonder what the Canadian governments pov is on criminals, after all they allowed in enough draft dodgers during Vietnam. It could easily be said that he shouldn’t be allowed back into Canada as an American citizen (unless he’s naturalised) as he has a criminal record. Also been in the country under an assumed name so thats an immigration issue as well.