The City of Boston has reached a settlement of $150,000 to be distributed to two men, wrongfully implicated in the 1989 killing of Carol Stuart. Willie Bennett's family will receive $100,000, and Alan Swanson will get $50,000, as reported by NBC Boston.
Incorrectly arrested in connection with the high-profile case, which exacerbated racial tensions throughout Boston, Bennett and Swanson had awaited justice for decades. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu issued an apology to the two men in 2023, acknowledging the city's role in their unwarranted arrests and the subsequent fallout that largely affected the Black community, detailed by an investigation in MassLive.
Following the shooting, Charles Stuart misled authorities with his description of a fictitious Black assailant. Swiftly, the Boston Police Department's response stirred fear across neighborhoods as they stopped countless Black men, a practice that seemed to confirm preexisting racial biases and fueled a citywide climate of mistrust and fear. "If you knew or loved a Black man in Boston, you feared for his life," Mayor Wu was quoted in a statement obtained by MassLive.
In the wake of the incident, Stuart's own brother would come forward, implicating Charles in the murder, culminating in his suicide in early 1990. Prior to Stuart's brother's confession, over 30 individuals had come to know the truth, yet, tips that pointed towards Stuart's guilt were seemingly overlooked by the detectives working on the case, as highlighted by the investigation of NBC Boston.
