The Nation - News from March 3, 1985

Subway vigilante Bernhard H. Goetz is losing support the more he talks about the December shootings of four teen-agers, New York Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward said. “He just kind of reminds me of someone who’s digging a very deep hole. At some point the sides are going to collapse on him and we are going to find out a lot more about Bernhard Goetz than maybe we knew in the past,” Ward told WNBC-TV. A Daily News-ABC poll taken two months ago showed that 49% of New Yorkers supported Goetz. A new poll shows an increase in support to 51%. “But the second poll shows that fewer New Yorkers now believe Goetz acted in self-defense--though barely more than half believe he was justified,” the News said.