Sean Bell’s Assassins Acquitted

The three officers most likely were drunk, and additionally possibly high of drugs, having spent all night at the club drinking while staking out the club. They supposedly went looking to prevent trouble; instead they committed the ultimate transgression–they murdered an innocent and unarmed man

[Black Star Editorial]

 

Police officers who kill unarmed Black men are untouchable.

Once again, the so-called justice system has proven that the life of a Black man has no value. First it was Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Black man, killed in a hail of 41 bullets.

Now, the three police officers who fired more than 50 shots and killed Sean Bell, 23, on the morning he was to be married in November 2006 have been acquitted of all charges.

Bell, on the day he was to be married to Nicole Paultre, was unarmed and was inside his car, attempting to get away from three armed men who approached him, wearing civilian attire, without badges displayed and without identifying themselves as police officers, by most accounts. They must have appeared as menacing thugs to Bell.

Anyone in his right mind would try to drive and get away from men approaching in such a manner early in the morning, at 4 AM, after a night of partying at Club Kalua to celebrate an impending wedding.

How can the judge who ruled on the case justify the firing of more than 50 shots into a vehicle? One of the officers admitted that he did not even realize he had emptied his magazine and loaded another clip and continued to fire into the vehicle. This means the officers did not even know what they were firing at–which also means they could not have known whether they were in danger or not. Bell’s friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield were both wounded in the shooting, with Guzman taking in 16 bullets.

The three officers most likely were drunk, and additionally possibly high on drugs, having spent all night at the club drinking while staking out the club. They supposedly went looking to prevent trouble; instead they committed the ultimate transgression–they murdered an innocent and unarmed man, likely because they were drunk, frightened and unprofessional.

Ironically, the Black Star News columnist Donald Winkfield predicted that this would be the outcome of this “trial” in his article two days ago.

Like the assassins of Amadou Diallo, these three killer cops, “detective” Michael Oliver, who reloaded his weapon and fired a total of 31 times, and “detective” Gescard Isnora walk away from charges of manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment; “detective” Marc Cooper also laughs all the way home, having been acquitted of reckless endangerment. “Detective” Isnora fired 11 times, and “detective” Cooper, four times.

Justice Arthur Cooperman claims he found problems with the Queen’s County DA’s case, and that some prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves; he also reportedly cited prior convictions and incarcerations of witnesses.

Question to “Justice” Cooperman: What’s the relevance to the critical facts of the case? The officers fired with reckless abandon into Sean Bell’s car without even knowing whom they were firing at considering there were three people, all unarmed, inside the vehicle. Once the first officer started firing, the others, all presumably drunk, also opened up.

So this is standard police operation now.

We doubt that “Justice” Cooperman will have the last say on this matter.

Bell is survived by fiancée, Nicole Paultre, and daughters, ages five and one.

 

 

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