1967 Plainfield Riots - The Riot

The Riot

On Saturday night trouble started again. Many long time residents of Plainfield stated that "outside agitators" who did not live in Plainfield came in to the city to provoke violence and to "rile up" the community. Some were white men and some were black men and the hatred they fanned was infectious. Rioting and looting increased and Molotov cocktails were thrown at fire trucks responding to calls. Police from surrounding jurisdictions were called in and the crowds finally dispersed when a heavy rain started to fall early Sunday morning.

On Sunday afternoon several hundred people gathered at a local park to hear the local Director of Human Relations talk about the situation in the city. The Union County, New Jersey Park Police, who had jurisdiction over the park, declared the meeting unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. The crowd broke up and reformed in the West End section of Plainfield where widespread rioting started again. The city police were caught off guard and did not respond quickly enough to quell the disorder.

Later that evening a white police officer, John Gleason, was manning a checkpoint. Members of the Pagan motorcycle gang entered the area and a confrontation between a large group of young black men and the white members of the Pagan motorcycle gang was brewing. Polic Officer John Gleason placed himself between the two groups and the Pagan mortorcycle gang left. The remaining crowd refused to disperse and Officer Gleason became surrounded by the crowd which began to threaten him and close in on him. Officer Gleason was in fear of his life and eventually fired a shot at a young man and wounded him. When the officer tried to leave the area to get help, he was overtaken by a mob and was beaten with a steel grocery store cart, stomped and eventually brutally shot and killed with his own service revolver.