Framingham City Council Expected To Declare Today Eurie Stamps Sr. Day

By Talia Heisey

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FRAMINGHAM – Eurie Stamps Sr., a retired MBTA employee, was known to family and friends for his warmth and supportive nature.

Tonight, on what would have been his 79th birthday, Framingham City Council is expected to commemorate this legacy, instead of his untimely death, and mark today Eurie Stamps Sr. Day.

Eleven years ago on January 5, 2011, a Framingham SWAT team raided his home looking for his stepson. Stamps complying with orders, laid face down on the floor of his living room where he was shot by Framingham Police Officer Paul Duncan, during the raid.

Duncan said it was an accidental discharge of his weapon and was never charged, later being cleared of all charges. The current District Attorney Marian Ryan is reviewing the case again.

Wilkin’s grandson, Christian Wilkins, a NFL player for the Miami Dolphins posted on his instagram at the beginning of the George Floyd protests in 2020, a note speaking to his continued sadness over his grandfather’s death.

“This was said to be a ‘mistake’ as the officer slipped and fired accidentally. When you break down the word MIStake, you get ‘Miss’ and ‘Take’ as they missed the mark and took my granddad. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him” it read.

Stamps name while mentioned in Framingham during Black Lives Matter protests is not always mentioned during national protests

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Almost three years after his death, the SWAT team responsible for his death was disbanded.

The Stamps’ family in 2016 settled a $3.75 million lawsuit with Framingham, where Framingham admitted no guilt.

But a decade later, and there are many that feel Justice has not been served, including Stamps family.

Justice for Eurie, a group comprised of his friends, family, and its numerous supporters, have continued to demand the firing and charging of Duncan.

A rally was held in the City of Framingham in August 2020. The crowd wanted the City of Framingham’s Mayor Yvonne Spicer to fire Duncan, instead she announced she would be setting up a scholarship in Stamp’s name.

The Mayor has yet to announce details of the scholarship, six months later.

SOURCE reached out to the Mayor and her office about the scholarship and no response.

Stamp’s family has remained steadfast in supporting the push for justice.

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A resolution to name a Eurie Stamps Sr. Day in Framingham was originally planned for a vigil of the date of Stamp’s death until his family asked for the date to be changed to March 2, said District 8 City Councilor John Stefanini,

“The [family] asked us to change the resolution from the day he was killed to the date he was born to shift the focus,” said Stefanini.

Stefanini remembered Stamps as a “good man and dedicated father and grandfather.”

“His legacy will live on through the many young lives that he helped for the better,” said Stefanini of the former District 8 resident.

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District 9 Councilor Tracey Bryant and District 5 City Councilor Robert Case also served on that ad hoc subcommittee.

The City Council designation, if voted tonight, will come hours before the day ends.

In September 2020, the Framingham Democratic Committee called upon the Spicer administration to enact widespread reforms in its police department.

The chair of the Democratic Committee discussed the efforts with the City Council in January, on the anniversary of Stamp’s death with Framingham City Council.

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Talia Heisey is a 2021 spring intern for SOURCE. Heisey is a current sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English. They has been a contributor to the Amherst Wire’s campus news section since 2019, focused on covering the impact of COVID upon the UMass community. They has previously participated in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Journalism bootcamp program.