The Verdict On The Sean Bell Case
The three officers who shot and killed Sean Bell outside a strip club in 2006, were all found not guilty.
Now, do you all think for a minute that this will teach people not to deliberately ram their vehicles into police vans?
No!!!!
These three police officers are still not out of danger.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it will investigate the shooting for possible federal civil rights violations. It was one of several high-profile New York police shootings of unarmed men in the past decade. In 1999, four officers were found not guilty of murdering African immigrant Amadou Diallo after firing 41 shots as he reached for a wallet. In 2004, an officer killed Timothy Stansbury, 19, on the roof of a Brooklyn housing project where he lived. The officer wasn’t indicted.
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A $50 million civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit against the city was filed by Bell’s fiancée and two of his companions from the night of the shooting, according to attorney Sanford Rubenstein. The suit, filed in Brooklyn, New York, federal court, was delayed pending the criminal trial.
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today that he would wait for a decision by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell on whether to bring a civil rights case before pursuing disciplinary measures against the three detectives.
Federal Prosecution
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, who said the judge acted fairly and that he accepted the verdict, added that he told Campbell he will cooperate in the federal probe. The Justice Department said it has been monitoring the case.
Isnora, Oliver and Cooper, though acquitted by a state court, may be tried again for the same crime if the second case is brought by the federal government.
