INCIDENT AT OGLALA

INCIDENT AT OGLALA 

This film, produced by Michael Apted and narrated by Robert Redford, is a documentary about an incident that occurred on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in June 1975 after years of growing tension between the federal government and AIM (American Indian Movement).  The event occurred at the Jumping Bull Compound where two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, and a young Indian man, Joe Stuntz, were killed.  The agents’ deaths resulted in the arrests of political activists and members of AIM (American Indian Movement), Darrell (Dino) Butler, Robert (Bob) Robideau, and Leonard Peltier; Stuntz’s death was not investigated.  There were two trials, one for Butler and Robideau and another for Peltier.  In their trial, Butler and Robideau were found not guilty by reason of self-defense due to the “climate of fear” present on the reservation at that time.  At the second trial, Peltier was found guilty of first-degree murder of both agents and sentenced to two life sentences.  The film, which argues for the release of Peltier, gives both the AIM and FBI perspectives, although most of the testimony supports AIM.  This week I will offer the government’s perspective and next week will summarize AIM’s point of view. 

According to the FBI, the early 1970s saw a tremendous increase in crime and violence on the reservation.  The escalation began in 1973 after a group of approximately 200 traditionalist Indians, including AIM members, seized the town of Wounded Knee.  Federal and reservation law enforcement teams immediately set up roadblocks and surrounded the town.  The 71-day occupation, the longest the Marshall’s office had ever encountered, ended when the Indians surrendered.  Two federal officers were seriously wounded, two Indians were killed and, although there were 500 arrests, no one was found guilty of criminal charges. There was no direct link between Wounded Knee and the 1975 firefight, however, the government argues that the first incident caused a factionalism to develop on the reservation between the tribal government and traditionalists that culminated in the murders of the agents.

That FBI contends that during that time, agents Coler and Williams were searching for a traditionalist named Jimmy Eagle regarding a federal warrant that charged him with robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.  The night before the shootout, the agents looked in numerous places that Eagle was known to frequent including the Jumping Bull Compound where about a dozen AIM members had set up camp, but didn’t find him.  They spoke with Charles Norman, a known compatriot of Peltier, who informed them that Eagle had been at the property earlier but left in a red truck.  The next morning the agents were out looking for Eagle in the same vicinity when Williams called in to dispatch, reporting that he saw a red (or red and white, versions differ) truck turning into the Jumping Bull property, and was going to follow it.  When he did so, Coler, who had his own car, followed.  Soon after, Williams called again, stating that the truck had stopped, the passengers had gotten out of the vehicle holding weapons, and that they (the agents) were being fired on.  

The shooters were too far away for the agents to protect themselves with their handguns, but when they attempted to get their rifles from their cars’ trunks, they were both wounded, Coler so seriously that he quit communicating.   Other agents on the reservation, including Gary Adams who was very close by, heard these transmissions and began heading toward the compound.  When they arrived on the property, however, they immediately came under fire, and it was hours before they were able to reach the agents who were found outside of William’s car, dead.  Both men had wounds to their bodies and had been executed with close-up shots to the head.  The shooters and Agent Coler’s car were gone as were the agents’ weapons and ammunition.  Chillingly, the shooter had had the presence of mind to pick up the bullet casings before leaving to make identifying the weapon used in the executions harder to identify.

Tribal police and the federal government immediately began searching the property for the responsible parties.  When they weren’t found, the search was spread across the region, and then across the country.  In the meantime, the FBI interviewed Michael Anderson, who was on the Jumping Bull property during the shootout, who gave his version what happened that day.  He testified that the only running vehicle on the property was a red and white suburban owned by Leonard Peltier, a fugitive wanted for attempted murder of a police officer in Milwaukee, and that the passengers in the vehicle when Williams followed it onto the property were Norman Charles, Leonard Peltier, and Joe Stuntz (the Indian killed in the shootout).  Although he said he hadn’t seen the murders, he did see Butler, Robideau, and Peltier approach the vicinity where the agents were shot.  The FBI also learned that a weapon owned by Peltier used ammunition that matched the bullets that killed the agents.  

A nationwide manhunt for the three men, who had since split up, ensued and they were eventually located.  Dino Butler was arrested September 5, 1975 in Oregon when Agent Coler’s gun was found in his car.  Bob Robideau was picked up on September 10, 1975 when a station wagon he was driving blew up on a Kansas highway and Agent Coler’s rifle and a firearm matching the type used to murder the agents were found in the debris.  Peltier remained at large after narrowly escaping arrest in Oregon and fleeing to Canada where he was arrested by the Canadian police who reported his capture to the United States.  According to the Canadians, Peltier stated that the agents were killed because they had come to serve a warrant against him for the charges in Milwaukee.  He fought extradition, but eventually was surrendered to the United States and put on trial in the spring of 1977.  He was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences. 

Please note that I got this information both from the film and from the FBI history website at https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/resmurs-case-reservation-murders where greater detail on  the FBI’s version can be found.

That’s all for now.  Next week I’ll share the AIM perspective of the 1975 firefight.  Until then enjoy a flick…or two.