Detective Danny Williams sees a man trying to break into a car when he's off duty. The man runs, and Danny pursues him through the streets. The man turns and shoots at Danny a couple of times, then heads up to his apartment and barricades himself inside. Danny tells him to open the door, tries the door to find it locked, then shoots the lock off. He then opens the door to see he's fatally wounded the alleged thief when he shot the lock off, who turns out to be only 18 with no rap sheet. Danny doesn't notice a girl in the corner of the room who picks up the boy's gun and leaves. So this leaves Danny with a couple of beers in him, having shot an 18 year old with no record and seemingly unarmed. McGarrett believes Danny's story, but he needs hard proof. But in the meantime, Danny is indicted for first degree murder and jailed.
This episode initially aired two days after the presidential election of 1968, so it is interesting to look at it in that context. That was an election in which nobody got a majority of the votes and almost got thrown into the House of Representatives, an election in which George Wallace, when he was still a segregationist, actually won some electoral votes and 13% of the vote.
What McGarrett says about cops being heavily and even unfairly scrutinized when they shoot somebody was true then and true now, but it is hard not to notice how everybody - including the press - is more than willing to believe the worst about Danny and this shooting. The US was in the middle of the first "soft on crime" period of time that only led to more crime in the 70s and 80s, because people often forget that which you subsidize you get more of.
Also note that Gavin McLeod who will have long time positions on TV first as Murray in the Mary Tyler Moore show and then Captain Stubing on The Love Boat is playing a slimy drug dealer here named "Big Chicken". The episode does not disclose how he got such a nickname.
This episode initially aired two days after the presidential election of 1968, so it is interesting to look at it in that context. That was an election in which nobody got a majority of the votes and almost got thrown into the House of Representatives, an election in which George Wallace, when he was still a segregationist, actually won some electoral votes and 13% of the vote.
What McGarrett says about cops being heavily and even unfairly scrutinized when they shoot somebody was true then and true now, but it is hard not to notice how everybody - including the press - is more than willing to believe the worst about Danny and this shooting. The US was in the middle of the first "soft on crime" period of time that only led to more crime in the 70s and 80s, because people often forget that which you subsidize you get more of.
Also note that Gavin McLeod who will have long time positions on TV first as Murray in the Mary Tyler Moore show and then Captain Stubing on The Love Boat is playing a slimy drug dealer here named "Big Chicken". The episode does not disclose how he got such a nickname.