James E. Davis (April 3, 1962 - July 23, 2003) was a New York City policeman, corrections officer and councilman. He was killed by a fellow politician in New York's City Hall, in a bizarre instance of political rivalry gone awry.

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 became a policeman himself in 1983.

In 1991, Davis started an organization called Love Yourself Stop the Violence dedicated to stopping violence in urban America. He became a minister, and then a New York City Councilman from Brooklyn, elected in November 2001.

Othniel Askew had raised funds to run against him in the next election, but had failed to file the proper papers on time, which led to accusations of political chicanery.

On July 23, 2003, Davis brought Askew to attend a Council meeting at New York City's City Hall, with the intention of honoring him by introducing him from the balcony. The councilman and his guest were able to bypass the metal detectors. At 2:08 p.m., Askew fired a silver .40 caliber weapon at Davis, striking him twice in the chest. Davis, as a retired police officer, was carrying a weapon but it remained holstered. A plain-clothes policeman then shot Askew, striking him five times. Paramedics arrived quickly, and attempted to revive both Davis and Askew before taking them to NYU Downtown Hospital , but both died.

Davis's brother Geoffrey announced that he would run for the seat formerly held by his brother. He was defeated by fellow Democrat Letitia James, running on the Working Families Party line.

External links

• Biography at Love Yourself Stop the Violence

Other people by the same name

• A man named James E. Davis was Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles from 1926-1931 and from 1933-1939. See Los Angeles Police Department.