Biography
Alton Dunn was a Black Brooklyn motorist detained after Patrolman Higgins accused him of a hit-and-run on June 6, 1936. Julie Jason's reported case narrative in the Daily Worker of July 28, page 7, says Dunn challenged the accusation, accompanied Higgins to the Atlantic Avenue station, and was beaten by Higgins and three other officers, then locked in a cell. He was transferred to Raymond Street Jail, where three head wounds required six stitches, and released on bail the next morning. The account says the real hit-and-run driver had since been found and Dunn instead faced assault and creating-a-disturbance charges. The ILD and National Negro Congress sought investigation and discipline for the officers; the article characterizes the case as racial persecution. Hearings on July 30 against Higgins and August 4 on Dunn's charges were prospective. No outcome is asserted. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1936/v13-n180-NY-jul-28-1936-DW-Q.pdf
