NYPD cops found not guilty in Bell manslaughter case
Posted on April 25th, 2008 at 11:01am by bile Categories and Tags: Uncategorized, Al Sharpton, Arthur Cooperman, blue light gang, CNN, crime, Detectives Endowment Association, fascism, Gescard Isnora, guns, injustice, Joseph Guzman, Kalua Club, Lester Paultre, Marc Cooper, Michael Oliver, Michael Palladino, murder, New York, New York City, New York Police Department, New York Police Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, Nicole Paultre, Nicole Paultre Bell, Patrick Lynch, police, police state, politics, racism, Sanford Rubenstein, Sean Bell, slow moving car, sovereign immunity, Trent Benefield, your rightsA 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 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 said he found problems with the prosecution’s case. He said some prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves, and he cited prior convictions and incarcerations of witnesses.
He also cited the demeanor of some witnesses on the stand.
As the judge read his decision, Nicole Paultre Bell — Sean Bell’s fiancee before his death — ran from the courtroom, saying, “I’ve got to get out of here.”
The announcement immediately sparked anger among some in the crowd outside the courthouse, but the protests were generally orderly.
One woman shouted at a black police officer, “How can you be proud to wear that uniform? Stand down! Stop working for the masters!”
Patrick Lynch, president of the New York Police Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said “there’s no winners, there’s no losers” in the case.
“We still have a death that occurred. We still have police officers that have to live with the fact that there was a death involved in their case,” Lynch said.
But, he added, the verdict assured police officers that they will be treated fairly in New York’s courts.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been advising Bell’s fiancee and family, left the courthouse about an hour after the verdict without making a public statement. He had called for calm Wednesday.
Bell, 23, was killed just before dawn on his wedding day, November 25, 2006. He and several friends were winding up an all-night bachelor party at the Kalua Club in Queens, a strip club that was under investigation by a NYPD undercover unit looking into complaints of guns, drugs and prostitution.
Undercover detectives were inside the club, and plainclothes officers were stationed outside.
Witnesses said that about 4 a.m., closing time, as Bell and his friends left the club, an argument broke out. Believing that one of Bell’s friends, Joseph Guzman, was going to get a gun from Bell’s car, one of the undercover detectives followed the men and called for backup.
What happened next was at the heart of the trial, prosecuted by the assistant district attorney in Queens.
Bell, Guzman and Trent Benefield got into the car, with Bell at the wheel. The detectives drew their weapons, said Guzman and Benefield, who testified that they never heard the plainclothes detectives identify themselves as police.
Bell was in a panic to get away from the armed men, his friends testified.
But the detectives thought Bell was trying to run down one of them, according to their lawyers, believed that their lives were in danger and started shooting.
In a frantic 911 call, police can be heard saying, “Shots fired. Undercover units involved.”
A total of 50 bullets were fired by five NYPD officers. Only three were charged with crimes.
Oliver, who reloaded his semiautomatic in the middle of the fray, fired 31 times, Isnora fired 11 times, and Cooper, whose leg was brushed by Bell’s moving car, fired four times, the NYPD said.
No gun was found near Bell or his friends.
Soon after his death, Bell’s fiancee, Nicole Paultre, legally changed her name to Nicole Paultre Bell. She is raising the couple’s two daughters, ages 5 and 1.
“I tell [them] that Daddy’s in heaven now,” she said. “He’s watching over us. He’s our guardian angel. He’s going to be here to protect us and make sure nothing happens to us.”
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.
Another example of the thin blue line closing in to protect their own. No one is claiming sovereign immunity but that’s effectively what’s happening here. If any other gun toting individual were to have done something like this they’d likely be found guilty of at least manslaughter. These guys weren’t even found guilty of reckless endangerment. Firing 31 times into a slow moving car seems pretty reckless to me as well as assault.
People are claiming racism. While two of the officers are black that has never stopped minority officers from profiling or joining in on racist behavior. I’ve no evidence that explicit racism was a component of this case but I have little doubt that implicit racism did and unfortunately there is little or nothing we can do about that.
Right now on CNN TV they are reporting about how a protest/rally has broken out outside the courthouse. Our race baiting friend Al Sharpton apparently is there. I can’t stand the man but he’s telling everyone to keep calm and for some reason some people like and listen to him so perhaps he will help keep the likely volatile environment under control. We don’t need more tragedy to result from this.
This shows again that they aren’t there to protect you, they are there to enforce the law. Good or bad. They have little concern for the real victims and the real results of their actions. They are a gang and they look out for their own at the expense of those who they claim to protect. As with any gang they must be fought. We should not give those who seek power a position in which to weld it.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://blogofbile.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter-micro4.png){kind=icon}
Related posts:
April 25th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
This is a really sad story but what practical way can you fight this gang? Stop paying taxes? Write angry letters to politicians? Join the protesting masses who are easily discounted as simply being bitter on the evening news? Call for the dissolution of the police department?
April 25th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Yes, use the black market. Stop paying income tax if possible. There are lots of ways to starve the beast. Some are more drastic than others. Recently I talked with a woman who for over 30 years has made less then legally required to pay income tax and doesn’t file a 1040. She live below the radar. For some people that’s good… for most not. If more and more people stand up against the theft even in small ways it can cause an effect. The can’t print money forever.
Yes, DownsizeDC makes it easy as does GOA and other organizations. They do help make a difference which is why I donate to DownsizeDC.
In some cases it’s good to protest or have rallies. The RNC protests in 2004 by the majority of people was pointless but the MLP went and broke the law by protesting outside the "free speech zones" and we got international attention. I’m not claiming it changed anyone’s minds about liberty but the social aspects can re-enforce those participating’s will to fight and perhaps will positively effect someone else.
Sure, why not? Lots of freedom activists will tell government employee’s to quit their jobs and call for the marketization of the "services" they provide. If you don’t actively communicate with people and show them a better way they will often ignorantly stay place and accept the condition handed to them. It’s a difficult process to break a person from the lies and fraud but just this morning I spent 30 minutes on the subway describing Ron Paul’s positions. She didn’t necessarily agree that we should allow for a free market of doctors for example but she was willing to discuss it. She agreed we had major problems with education. She seems to accept that we could stabilize SSI by letting people opt out and bringing home our troops. She’d heard of the man but never discussed his policies in detail or had them explained. She was honestly interested in finding solutions to problems she witnesses but doesn’t have the time or means to research on her own. And I think many people if not all people are that way. Everyone has their thing and you can get in the door with providing a freedom based solution to their issue and thats the foot in the door. I talked with another woman at work who was in agreement that cops got away with whatever they like. That allowed me to bring up other stories and for her to bring up her own and I could build on that. I don’t understand the mentality that nothing can be done. Everything can and should be done and it doesn’t take much time to do them. Ignorance is the primary block and with ease of communications there is no better time to work on removing them. It doesn’t take much to move a societies moral compass. The Ron Paul Revolution is at max 5% of the population and yet they are making huge inroads to transforming the Republican party and have given the Libertarian party new credibility.
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 am
[...] like they are held accountable now? Tell that to the Bell family, Mark McCullaugh Jr.’s family, Tracy Ingle, and the hundreds of others who are attacked and [...]