3 NYPD detectives cleared in wedding-day shooting

3 NYPD detectives cleared in wedding-day shooting

By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
10 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Three detectives were acquitted Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

Scores of police officers surrounded the courthouse to guard against potential chaos, and as news of the verdict spread, many in the crowd began weeping. Others were enraged, swearing and screaming "Murderers! Murderers!" or "KKK!"

Inside the courtroom, spectators gasped. Sean Bell's fiancee immediately walked out of the room; his mother cried.

Bell, a 23-year-old black man, was killed in a hail of gunfire outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006, as he was leaving his bachelor party with two friends. The case ignited the emotions of people across the city and led to widespread protests among those who felt the officers used unnecessary force.

Officers Michael Oliver, 36, and Gescard Isnora, 29, stood trial for manslaughter, while Officer Marc Cooper, 40, was charged with reckless endangerment. Two other shooters weren't charged. Oliver squeezed off 31 shots; Isnora fired 11 rounds; and Cooper shot four times.

The case brought back painful memories of other NYPD shootings, such as the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo — an African immigrant who was gunned down in a hail of 41 bullets by police officers who mistook his wallet for a gun. The acquittal of the officers in that case created a storm of protest, with hundreds arrested after taking to the streets in demonstration.

Moments after the verdict was announced Friday, Trent Benefield, a friend of Bell's who was wounded in the hail of gunfire, staggered down the courthouse steps with a look of angry disbelief on his face, a friend's arms tightly wrapped around his shoulders.

"Not guilty. Not guilty. It's real," he said, while dozens of people wearing Bell's face on hats, T-shirts and buttons burst into sobs.

Within an hour, the crowd of about 200 people had settled down and dispersed. Despite a few scuffles between members of the throng and police officers, no arrests were made.

William Hardgraves, 48, an electrician from Harlem, brought his 12-year-old son and 23-year-old daughter to hear the verdict. "I hoped it would be different this time. They shot him 50 times," Hardgraves said. "But of course, it wasn't."

The officers, complaining that pretrial publicity had unfairly painted them as cold-blooded killers, opted to have the judge decide the case rather than a jury.

The judge, Justice Arthur Cooperman, indicated when he delivered the verdict that the officers' version of events was more credible than the victims' version. "The people have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that each defendant was not justified" in firing, he said.

Hours later, the officers appeared at a news conference.

"I'd like to say sorry to the Bell family for the tragedy," Cooper said, thanking God, his lawyers and the police officers who supported him.

The U.S. attorney's office said after the verdict that it had been monitoring the state's prosecution and would conduct an independent review of the case. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who represents Bell's family, called for a federal investigation.

"This verdict is one round down, but the fight is far from over," Sharpton said on his radio show. "What we saw in court today was not a miscarriage of justice. Justice didn't miscarry. This was an abortion of justice."

Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, responded angrily to Sharpton's suggestion that the verdicts were unfair.

"That's despicable for him to say that because we have the greatest criminal justice system on earth," he said.

The nearly two-month trial was marked by deeply divergent accounts of the night.

The defense painted the victims as drunken thugs who the officers believed were armed and dangerous. Prosecutors sought to convince the judge that the victims had been minding their own business, and that the officers were inept, trigger-happy aggressors.

Both sides were consistent on one point: The utter chaos surrounding the last moments of Bell's life.

"It happened so quick," Isnora said in grand jury testimony. "It was like the last thing I ever wanted to do."

Bell's companions — Benefield and Joseph Guzman — offered dramatic testimony. Both were wounded in the shooting; Guzman still has four bullets lodged in his body.

Referring to Isnora, Guzman said, "This dude is shooting like he's crazy, like he's out of his mind."

The victims and shooters were set on a fateful collision course by a pair of innocuous decisions: Bell's to have a last-minute bachelor party at Kalua Cabaret, and the undercover detectives' to investigate reports of prostitution at the club.

As the club closed around 4 a.m., Sanchez and Isnora claimed they overheard Bell and his friends first flirt with women, then taunt a stranger who responded by putting his right hand in his pocket as if he had a gun. Guzman, they testified, said, "Yo, go get my gun" — something Bell's friends denied.

Isnora said he decided to arm himself, call for backup — "It's getting hot," he told his supervisor — and tail Bell, Guzman and Benefield as they went around the corner and got into Bell's car. He claimed that after warning the men to halt, Bell pulled away, bumped him and rammed an unmarked police van that converged on the scene with Oliver at the wheel. The detective also alleged that Guzman made a sudden move as if he were reaching for a gun.

Guzman said Isnora "appeared out of nowhere" with a gun drawn and shot him in the shoulder — the first of 16 shots to enter his body.

"That's all there was — gunfire," he said. "There wasn't nothing else."

With tires screeching, glass breaking and bullets flying, the officers claimed that they believed they were the ones under fire. Oliver responded by emptying his semiautomatic pistol, reloading, and emptying it again, as the supervisor sought cover.

The truth emerged when the smoke cleared: There was no weapon inside Bell's blood-splattered car.

Source

What the hell, I dont care WHO YOU ARE 50 fuckin rounds ISNT JUSTIFIED for ONE MAN. One fuckin man. and officers need to expell 50 rounds, hell no. I hope this verdict is appealed and those officers are arrested.

I find it funny how whenever it is a black man, then it was because they were ex-criminals, drug dealers, part of a gang, or "suspicious." There is always justification in killing an unarmed Black man. They are never the victim.

The thing that pissed me off the most was that they felt the need to make him and his friends look like the villians just so they could get away with using excessive force.

They brought all of this shit up, that they were in a gang, or had ties to one, used to be drug dealers, or they shot someone etc.. but tell me, was this their reason for firing those rounds? Is this what they were thinking when they were stakeing out the place? Did they say, "hmm, Sean Bell used to be in a gang, and the other two had previous drug, gun or gang-related offenses, so we are going to watch him?"

No.

They were there to investigate prostitution that might have been going on in the club.. and not Sean Bell and his friends, and so that is all the more reason that that other shit should NOT have come up in this case, as it had nothing to do with it.

I knew that those officers were going to get off when Ray Kelly sent officers to prevent a riot. Since when was there a need for a presence like that when the verdict turned out in favor of the victim? The whole thing reminded me of the Rodney King case when the officers involved were let off, which caused the L.A. Riots. Kelly didn't want that happening and that was why he sent those officers.. despite the fact that he said otherwise.

That's sad.

It's annoying, sounds like the detectives didn't even attempt to arrest him.

I'd understand if they could see that he was reaching in a pocket or something but I mean cmon... If you were a detective you would walk up to the car and shout "Your under arrest" or something...

That's not even poor policing...

And it's unacceptable, they should of be accused of murder not manslaughter. The fact they got away with it aswell?

I'm sorry but I don't know that that judge was on.

Here's another example of a completely false statement.
This is just more proof that humans are incapable of self government.

Who can deny that as excessive? The world isn't getting better.
Don't be fooled by misplaced optimism. The ones who thing this world is getting better, or even can under human rule, are apathetic, sheltered, closed minded people.

Who knew it took an officer to empty a round, reload, only to empty another round to stop a perp?

They had to go to court again, but I forgot to see what the results were..

This also means that he did one of two things:
He either started firing with a full clip and one in the chamber, or he fired and emptied two whole clips and was starting on his third clip before he stopped, because the report said he fired 31 rounds. The Glock 19 has a magazine capacity of 15 rounds. Which would explain emptying two magazines. But there's still that 31st bullet. Most likely in the chamber to begin with, but if not, the excessiveness of this is already beyond evident without this.

Then again, were the friends of Mr. Bell of questionable character? They were in a strip club in what was reported to be known as a dangerous section of town. While I don't believe the police officers were just in shooting him, and honestly I think all situations can be handled with a handshake , this should also be looked at as a warning that you are judged by the company you keep. It may not seem fair, but it will happen. So keep away from places that are questionable to an outside eye.

This post has been edited by Yotohan on Jun 18 2008, 04:29 PM

Supposedly, they were, but tell me, what the f--k did that have to do with the case?

The cops weren't there to watch Bell.That is the issue I have. It would have been 1 thing if they thought that Bell and his friends were in connection with the prostitution allegations. But there wasn't.

And even if he did, like my brother says, it makes no sense for them to have 50 rounds for 1 man. I am sure that if Bell an his friends had gun, that they would have used them. Hell, some start using them immediately.

If they wanted to keep him from escaping, couldn't they have blown out the tires?

And I seriously doubt that Bell's friend would yell out in the club, "Yo, go get my gun" because that would be a f--king stupid thing to do.

Yeah. I'm totally agreeing that the "justice system" has failed here. I was just noting that while there is nothing one can do to make immediate change to this system, it's best to remember not just that some cops killed an innocent man, but that this could happen to anyone if they pick their associates or hangouts poorly. I'm in no way defending the police in this situation, what I say is from the stand point of one who looks at every situation as a learning experience... and this one shows you that police can and will use whatever force they feel is necessary and will get away with it. Dude, they tazered some guy to death not that long ago in a Canadian airport because he was angry and he didn't speak english. Now this wasn't the United States, but it still shows the general attitude of law enforcers.
So I, myself, will be careful where I go.

I am thinking that just staying from "questionable areas" isn't good enough considering how Amadou Diallo was killed.

They put 41 bullets into him.

Negligent and/or bad cops are everywhere.. just look at the LAPD. They won't always be in the questionable areas either. They won't always have a legit reason either, but more so becuse they had a quota to meet, or because they feel that "certain people" don't belong in "certain areas."

Eh.. the world is screwed up. what can ya do.