Sad story. 3 men were leaving a strip club after a bachelor (ok so it was 4am....) party. Needless to say it becomes a he said, he said story. The Police open fired (50 shots!) and the groom is dead. The Police were cleared of wrong doing. Wow, nothing wrong? Don't we all make some kind of mistake, say 50 shots seems like a lot. The men were not armed. Granted they were drunk. The 3 men were black, but 2 of the officers were black too. What do you think when you read the story? (Posted below) Does your opinion change when reading the story?
Judge Clears Cops in Groom's Shooting
By TOM HAYS,
AP
NEW YORK (April 25) - Three NYPD detectives have been acquitted of all counts in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day.
Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper were cleared in the 2006 slaying of Sean Bell . Isnora and Oliver faced the most serious charge of manslaughter.
Shouts of "No!" and "Not guilty!" erupted in the crowd outside the courthouse as word of the verdict spread. Some people wept on each other's shoulders.
Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a Queens courtroom packed with spectators, including the victim's fiance and parents. The ruling brings an end to a nearly two-month trial.
Bell was killed outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006 as he was leaving his bachelor party with two friends. If convicted of manslaughter and other charges, detectives Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver could have faced up to 25 years in prison. Detective Marc Cooper, charged only with reckless endangerment, faced up to one year behind bars.
Defense attorneys 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.
Bell's fiancee, parents and their supporters, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists, have demanded that the officers be held accountable. Sharpton said he has sought to temper outrage over the shooting of three unarmed black men and let the trial take its course. Two of the three officers are black.
"We gave the city an opportunity to show that we would be a new city of fairness," he told reporters at City Hall earlier this week.
Even with an acquittal, authorities predict calm will prevail.
"We certainly don't expect violence," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.
The defendants, who were investigating reports of prostitution at the Kalua Cabaret, say they became alarmed when they heard Bell and his friends trade insults around the 4 a.m. closing time with another patron who appeared to be armed. In grand jury testimony, Isnora claimed that he overheard one of Bell's companions, Joseph Guzman, say, "Yo, go get my gun."
Isnora responded by trailing Bell, Guzman and Trent Benefield to Bell's car. He insisted that he ordered the men to halt and that he and other officers began shooting only after Bell bumped him with his car and slammed into an unmarked police van while trying to flee.
Guzman and Benefield both played down the dispute outside the club. They also testified that they were unaware police were watching them and that the gunfire erupted without warning.
The Associated Press.
2008-04-25 08:50:40
KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.
This is sad. It won't be the
This is sad. It won't be the end. Some civil lawsuits are probably heading the officers way. I certainly hope the officers be it black, white, green, or purple are remorseful. Looks like some pretty poor choices were made that night ending in the ultimate loss. I can see the officer's justifing a few shots fired if I read the story right, an officer was bumped by the victims car and slammed into van. But then the men were unaware the police were even there. 50 shots though, wow can't really justify that, it's not like the unarmed men could have shot at them first. Just sad.
Jennifer is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com and mommy to four beautiful girls who range from 9 to 4 years of age.