1995-04450 words · 2 min
Ready to Live (Part 3 of 5): In a Wheelchair in Court
Five gunshot wounds, fleeing the hospital, and appearing in a wheelchair: In part 3 of the 1995 Vibe interview, Tupac looks back at the days after the attack.
Original: “Ready to Live” (Part 3) · Vibe · Kevin Powell · April 1995
In the studio, people pointed out the blood on Tupac’s head; he thought he had been pistol-whipped. In the third part of the Vibe cover story, Kevin Powell recounts the days after the shooting: five gunshot wounds, fleeing the hospital, and appearing in court in a wheelchair.
Five Hits and a Grinning Police Officer
Then came the ambulance and police. Of all people, the officer who had testified against him in the sexual abuse trial leaned over him with a grin. Only at Bellevue Hospital did Tupac realize that he had been hit five times, including in the head. He never thought he would die: from the very first moment, he felt that God was protecting him.
Nightmares and Allegations of a Staged Attack
He speaks at length about the coverage that followed. Jokes about his injuries bothered him less; what hurt him most was an article claiming he had staged the attack himself-that made him cry.
Tupac suffered from headaches and nightmares in which shots were fired again. A psychiatrist spoke of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Escape from Bellevue and in a Wheelchair in Court
He left Bellevue the very next night because he felt like a “science project” and feared for his life. At the next hospital, he also received phone calls: “You ain’t dead yet?” The family took him to a safe place.
On the morning after the shooting, he had himself brought to court in a wheelchair so the sequestered jury would not think he was dodging them. The judge, he said, never looked at him. As he was wheeled out, cameras crowded him; Tupac called the photographers “vultures” and lowered his head.
Guilty on Two Counts, Acquitted of Weapons Possession
The key facts are documented. On December 1, 1994, the jury found Tupac guilty on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and acquitted him of the charges of sodomy and weapons possession. The New York Times reported on December 3 that he had left the hospital and had himself taken to an undisclosed location. On February 7, 1995, sentencing followed: one and a half to four and a half years.
Tupac’s sense of being hunted heavily shaped his subsequent music. The claim that he staged the attack himself is hardly maintained by anyone today; Dexter Isaac’s 2011 statement that he was one of the perpetrators also argues against it. It remains remarkable how openly he spoke about the psychological aftermath in 1995-unusual in rap at the time.