All 3 police officers acquitted in Sean Bell shooting (NY)

[CyberHustler]

http://www.cnn.com/

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A judge acquitted three New York Police Department detectives of all charges Friday morning in the shooting death of an unarmed man in a 50-bullet barrage, hours before he was to be married. Detectives Michael Oliver, left, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper were accused in the 50-bullet barrage.

Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora were found not guilty of charges of manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23, and the wounding of two of his friends.

Detective Marc Cooper was acquitted of reckless endangerment.
Justice Arthur Cooperman issued his verdict in the bench trial. There was no jury.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Queens courthouse in anticipation of the verdict.

The Rev. Al Sharpton called for calm Wednesday. He was accompanied by Bell's fiancee and other supporters on the steps of City Hall.

Detectives Endowment Association President Michael Palladino said forensic and scientific evidence presented during the seven-week trial contradicts the testimony of prosecution witnesses.

But Paultre Bell's father, Lester Paultre, said, "For those naysayers who say the police was doing their job, they should imagine their child in that car being shot by the police for no reason."

Paultre Bell, Guzman and Benefield have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court that has been stayed pending the outcome of the criminal trial. Guzman was shot 16 times, and four bullets, too dangerous to remove, remain in his body, according to his lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein.

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York have been monitoring the trial. In the event of an acquittal, it is likely authorities would conduct a review to determine whether there were any civil rights violations. All three victims were African-American.

[spunkmister]

there is always 2 sides to every story but man shooting that many times without even seeing a gun is excessive any way you look at it.

[bronco67]

Originally Posted by spunkmister

there is always 2 sides to every story but man shooting that many times without even seeing a gun is excessive any way you look at it.

yeah, I'm pro police, and also leaning to the right on most issues, but that probably shouldn't have gone down the way it did.

[Fletch XXX]

Originally Posted by Cyber-Hu$tler

There was no jury.

if there was, the pigs would be getting ass fucked by Aryans this morning

[directfiesta]

wonder ... if the victim would have been white ...... and the cops blacks .... just wondering

[Stephen McTowelie]

Originally Posted by directfiesta

wonder ... if the victim would have been white ...... and the cops blacks .... just wondering

Erm it happen in America its not hard to guess how this would have gone down.

The level of racism in the police still amazes me

The sad thing is its not much different in the UK just luckily our cops dont carry guns or the ones who do tend to shoot Brazilians

[CyberHustler]

Originally Posted by directfiesta

wonder ... if the victim would have been white ...... and the cops blacks .... just wondering

These are the cops who did it....



31 of those shots came from one of the white cops though.

[CyberHustler]

Originally Posted by Cyber-Hu$tler

These are the cops who did it....



31 of those shots came from one of the white cops though.

Actually one of those cops don't belong there.

[Tom_PM]

The one on the top left was not involved. The one on the bottom left had never discharged his weapon before on duty, and he said in the trial that he didnt even know he'd fired through his first clip when he loaded his second. He said he thought his gun jammed so he changed clips...

I think it's pretty awful situation, and for me it's just all the more reason not to hang out at a bar until 4am. Cuz I know if I was already in my car and I saw some plain clothed guy running toward me with gun drawn, my brain would probably not even register if he was yelling "police" or whatever he claims to have been saying. I might duck, or floor the gas pedal too.

It didnt help that one of the witnesses was a crackhead, who was argumentative with the cross examination, even at one point saying "this should happen to YOUR family" to the lawyer.. ugh.

[Mr Steele]

To recap:
BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM *reload* BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM *reload* BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM *reload* BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM Not guilty.

[SifuE]

Fuck The Police!

[Socks]

So when is the riot scheduled?

Amazing how often these horrendous crimes by police come back with the cops being acquitted. dude was unarmed. How many times you gotta shoot!

[FelixFlow]

thats sounds pretty fucked up & someone from his family should take a stand a make a point - you can't let stuff like this happen & get swept under the rug...if someone had taken a vigilant stand against this in the past, these officers prolly wouldn't have killed that man..but they got away with it, so police are not in fear to over-react like this

[PornMogul]

Originally Posted by SifuE

Fuck The Police!

Agreed, this can't be said enough times

[BradM]

I'm pro police 99% of the time. However this was a pretty stupid case and I'd have to side with the victim.

[CyberHustler]

The protesters damn near shut the whole Manhattan down...

[tony286]

very fucked up