NEWS: COPS ACQUITTED IN SEAN BELL CASE
Friday, April 25, 2008
A crowd reacts to the verdict in the Sean Bell shooting case outside the Queens County Criminal Courts Building in New York Friday, April 25.
Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the killing of Sean Bell. Bell died after being bombarded with 50 bullets by the New York Police Department back in 2006.
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.
As the judge read his decision, Nicole Paultre Bell — Sean Bell’s fiancee — ran from the courtroom crying, saying, “I’ve got to get out of here.”

Backstory
In the early morning hours of Nov. 25, 2006, Sean Bell, a 23-year-old New York City man due to be married later that day, walked out of a Queens strip club, climbed into a gray Nissan Altima with two friends who had been celebrating with him - and died in a hail of 50 bullets fired by a group of five police officers.
The shooting shocked the city and brought back memories of the deaths in other high-profile police shootings - in particular, the death of Amadou Diallo, an African peddler killed after police fired 41 shots at him in 1999. Both men were black and both were unarmed, although in both cases the officers appeared to have believed the suspect had a gun. While the death of Mr. Bell did not prompt the same levels of rage and protest as the Diallo case, it prompted unsettling questions about the changes in police procedures adopted in recent years, and about whether black men remained unfairly singled out for aggressive police action.









388 Comments
COMMENT PAGES: « 1 2 3 4 5 [6] Show All
376.
joyce
Sunday, April 27, 2008 /
i think that the jugde coul dbe removed from the office. He sets bad bad for black people. when he found the three cops not giult the judge gives cops all rights to kill blacks. So cops know that they will get away with all black murders. If it was a white child they will never do what have ever done, but they will pay in time.
GOD DOES NOT LIKE UGLIEST!!!!!!
AND I WONDER HOW THEY SLEEP AT NIGHT AFTER DOING ALL OF THESE EVIL THINGS AND GET AWAY WITH IT, THIS IS NOT THE FIRST.
WE ARE ALL HUMAN GOD MADE EVERYONE SPECIAL
IF HE WANTED ALL BLACKS THEN HE WOULD OF MADE ALL BLACKS
AND SAME FOR WHITE. HE MADE EVERYONE HOW HE WANTED THEM.
HOW ARE WE TO THINK DIFFERENT!!!!!!
377.
Son of Nat Turner
Monday, April 28, 2008 /
Now what? March, holla in a bullhorn, sing tired azz slave hyms? That’s the reason we are here! We need to make them respect or fear us, but stop killing us! N.Y shoul have been on fire!!! This message is saying to our kids that they are 2nd class citizens. You can send someone for fighting dogs, or tax evasion but killing a blackman carries no punishment. Fukk that!!! And to you monkey-minded house niccas, you can go down with them to!!! POWER TO THE PEOPLE
378.
Son of Natt Turner
Monday, April 28, 2008 /
Almost forgot, F>U>C>K the POLICE!
379.
Jay
Monday, April 28, 2008 /
sorry to say those cops better be on alert
someone might take 50 at them……
sad to say but true
380.
SUDANI
Monday, April 28, 2008 /
Of course everyone in this hypocritical racist piece of shit country will sit back and watch the institutionalized extermination of America’s archenemy and greatest fear; the black male. What else is new?
Fcuk the white people who sit in comfortable silence and watch the propagation of their blood-drenched status quo.
Fcuk the the punk ass police.
Fcuk the USA.
Fcuk any black person who cares about this country more than the black family unit, black self respect, black empowerment, black sustenance, black love, and black unity.
381.
Get'em
Monday, April 28, 2008 /
>I still cry everytime I hear it, this shit is nutz!!!!!!! It makes me made the something can happen this drastic and nothing happen to those ass holes. The more I type the more I get madd. To the family stay-up the best way you can cuz I know its hard. Peace Y’all!!!!
382.
Out in the Streets, They Call It Murder | afrobella
Monday, April 28, 2008 /
[...] than a jury. And lo and behold, that judge found reasons to question the witnesses’ accounts — “He said some prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves, and he cited prior convi… that Concrete Loop article reveals. (note — the gif image at the top of this post also came [...]
383.
» SEAN BELL UPDATE: NICOLE BELL SPEAKS; FAMILY BEING HARASSED + PROTEST PHOTOS // 'CONCRETELOOP.COM' - 'GLOWIN' IN THE DARK'
Monday, April 28, 2008 /
[...] the weekend many people in NYC held protests and marches in Sean Bell’s memory after a Judge acquitted three police officers in his shooting death last [...]
384.
» NEWS ROUNDUP: COSBY TEAMS WITH JUDGE FOR YOUTH / WHITE JENA TEEN PLEADS GUILTY / CYNTHIA MCKINNEY’S ON BELL VERDICT // 'CONCRETELOOP.COM' - 'GLOWIN' IN THE DARK'
Monday, April 28, 2008 /
[...] Over the weekend, Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney published her thoughts regarding the decision of a judge to acquit three NYC detectives of all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell. [...]
385.
» NEWS ROUND UP: SEAN BELL UPDATE / PROCTER & GAMBLE PULL BET & MTV ADS? / SCHOLARS IN NEUROSCIENCE // 'CONCRETELOOP.COM' - 'GLOWIN' IN THE DARK'
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 /
[...] Saturday, Al Sharpton announced plans for a pray-in to protest the acquittals of three police officers in the death of Sean [...]
386.
» NEWS: ARRESTS DURING PROTEST OF ACQUITTALS IN SEAN BELL CASE // 'CONCRETELOOP.COM' - 'GLOWIN' IN THE DARK'
Thursday, May 8, 2008 /
[...] Wednesday as demonstrators blocked traffic during New York’s evening rush hour to protest the acquittals of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of unarmed Bell on his wedding [...]
387.
» NEWS ROUNDUP: SEAN BELL UPDATE / JANE BOLIN HONORED / NEW SEIU PRES. // 'CONCRETELOOP.COM' - 'GLOWIN' IN THE DARK'
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 /
[...] three cops acquitted of killing Sean Bell were hit with disciplinary charges last week. Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael [...]
388.
» NEWS ROUNDUP: SHARPTON CONVICTED / EMMETT TILL LAW / BIGGEST GAS PRICE DROP // 'CONCRETELOOP.COM' - QUALITY NOT QUANTITY
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 /
[...] people were arrested in May for blocking bridges, tunnels and intersections in response to the acquittal of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of [...]
COMMENT PAGES: « 1 2 3 4 5 [6] Show All