(1948– )
a man who in 1984 shot and wounded four African-American teenagers on a New York underground train after one of them asked for $5. He became known as the Subway Vigilante and there was major debate in the US over whether ordinary people should be allowed to use such violence to defend themselves. Goetz was sent to prison for 8½ years, but only for illegally having a gun. In 1996, he was taken to a court of law by one of the young men he had injured, and the jury decided that Goetz must pay him $43 million.