Why did Huey Newton kill the cop?

Answer 1

Because the cop (John Frey) was a policeman, and Huey Newton was scum. I mean, yeah yeah yeah, "civil rights activist" and all that, but when you look at the rest of Newton's life, you've really got to wonder how much of the civil rights was a smokescreen for the fact that he was basically just criminal slime.

Okay, so that aside: Frey pulled Newton and a friend (probably David Hilliard, but I can't find confirmation of that) over for some reason. When Frey realized he'd stopped a Black Panther leader, he called for backup. When that backup (Herbert Heanes) arrived, Frey arrested Newton (most likely for drunk driving; Newton had been celebrating the end of his probationary period after stabbing a man with a steak knife). And then the gunfight started. Heanes testified that the shooting started after Newton was under arrest. A witness testified that Newton shot Frey with Frey's own gun as the two struggled. Newton himself said Frey shot him first, and that he lost consciousness as a result. Newton was convicted but the conviction was later reversed and remanded for a new trial; after two mistrials; the DA opted not to pursue a conviction.

Newton later alleged that Heanes and Frey had been shooting at each other (not intentionally, just because they were on opposite sides of the fight), and writer Hugh Pearson claimed in his book Shadow of the Panther that Newton had admitted (while drunk) that he meant to kill Frey It's not really known if Newton intentionally killed Frey, if he did so unintentionally because he was intoxicated; if Heanes accidentally shot Frey, or something else.