Blacks Ask Goetz Inquiry

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan is scheduled to meet with local black leaders who are demanding that a federal grand jury investigate whether Bernhard H. Goetz violated civil rights laws when he shot four black youths who harassed him on a subway on Dec. 22. But a spokesman for U.S. Atty. Rudolph W. Giuliani cautioned that “we’re making no commitment; no investigation is under way.” The Rev. Al Sharpton, head of the Brooklyn-based National Youth Movement, asked for the meeting after a Manhattan grand jury indicted Goetz, who is white, for three weapons violations last Friday but refused to indict him for attempted murder or assault. “It smacks of racism,” Sharpton said.