SCLC #635 Thaddeus Steel Detroit eyewitness · federal notice delay >1 year

On 10 Sept 1959 a Detroit Free Press reporter said he saw officers punch and kick 16-year-old Thaddeus Steel at Vernor Station garage. Commissioner Hart took no discipline, found no substantiating evidence, but said he did not disbelieve the reporter. Prosecutor Olsen did not charge, citing inability to identify assailants.

Fall 1960 Division record check: the incident had not come to Division attention for over a year despite northern newspaper coverage. Clipping-memo context is suggestive, not proven cause. Eyewitness journalism ≠ adjudicated guilt. Standing three hundred fifty-two.