Sean Bell's Death: More Of The Same...

We’ve been struggling with the horror of it for well over a year now…

In the early morning hours of November 25, 2006, Sean Bell, a 23-year-old New York City man due to be married later that day, walked out of the Kalua Cabaret strip club on Liverpool Street in Jamaica, Queens. He climbed into a gray Nissan Altima with friends Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman who had been celebrating with him - and died in a hail of 50 bullets fired by a group of five police officers. Benefield and Guzman were severely wounded in the shooting barrage. None of the victims were armed.

On March 16, 2007, a Queens grand jury voted to indict three detectives in the case, charging the two who had fired the bulk of the shots, Detective Michael Oliver (fired 31 shots) and Detective Gescard F. Isnora, with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter, and the third, Detective Marc Cooper, with reckless endangerment.¹

In a non-jury trial that lasted 7 weeks, judge Arthur J. Cooperman acquitted the three detectives on April 25, 2008 of all charges.

By now we’ve heard over and over the details of the incident and the case that followed. One of the questions at hand is how many times does it take for an unarmed minority in this city to be gunned-down by a police officer before the officer’s actions will be found “excessive” – to say the least – by a criminal court of law?

● In December of ’94 twenty-nine-year-old Anthony Baez was placed in a fatal choke hold by Officer Francis Livoti after a football tossed by Baez hit the officer’s car. Livoti was charged and acquitted at trial of negligent homicide.

● On February 4, 1999 four cops (Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon & Kenneth Boss) fired 41 bullets and killed unarmed Amadou Diallo. All 4 of the Officers were acquitted of murder charges by a jury upstate.

● In January, 2004 unarmed nineteen-year-old Timothy Stansbury was fatally shot as he walked across the roof of a Brooklyn housing project by Officer Richard Neri. Neri was never indicted.

When a civilian commits a crime against a civilian and the perpetrator is caught, there’s a sense of relief because for the most part, you have faith that justice will be served. Unfortunately, as a Black man in this city I don’t feel that way when the incident involves an officer shooting an unarmed minority. It’s a shame that any day now a minority male in the City of New York could easily become the next Sean Bell, Timothy Stansbury, Amadou Diallo or Anthony Baez – including my son once he comes of age. I wonder what the next shot count will be? Especially considering the fact that an officer firing 31 shots at unarmed civilians is not considered excessive.

As NY Daily News writer Errol Louis pointed-out in his recent article about the Sean Bell case, “If all three officers on trial had done what Detective Michael Oliver did - empty their clips, reload and fire again - nearly 100 bullets would have flown. Would that be considered reckless?”

My heart and prayers truly go out to the family and friends of Sean Bell, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman. Hopefully you won’t have to say the same about me one day.

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By: Keith Canady - Keith Canady is the Founder/Admin of this website (www.morrisania.com) and Canady's Community.

¹NewYorkTimes.com - http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/sean_bell/index.html

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