LEGAL ACTIVISTS OF COLOR
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Monday, November 27, 2006

New York City - 50 Shots Fired: Calls for justice in fatal NYPD shooting, rally Dec. 6 at police HQ

 
 
Community leaders planned a rally Dec. 6 at police headquarters.
 
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Associated Press
 
Calls for justice in fatal NYPD shooting
 
By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago
 
NEW YORK - An angry crowd shouted "No justice, no peace!" Some called for the ouster of the city's police commissioner. Many counted off to 50, the number of rounds that are estimated to have been fired by police at three unarmed men, killing one on his wedding day.
 

Several hundred people gathered Sunday for a vigil and rally to demand answers about why officers let fly a flurry of bullets at 23-year-old Sean Bell early Saturday, hours before he was supposed to marry the mother of his two young children.
 
The five officers were placed on paid administrative leave and stripped of their guns, said Paul Browne, chief spokesman for the NYPD. Police and prosecutors promised a full investigation.
 
But none of that stemmed the fury of a community outraged by the shootings.
"We cannot allow this to continue to happen," the Rev.
Al Sharpton said at the gathering outside Mary Immaculate Hospital, where one of the two wounded men was in critical condition. "We've got to understand that all of us were in that car."
 
Relatives of the men attended the vigil and rally but none spoke publicly.
 
Some in the crowd called for the removal of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, yelling "Kelly must go!"
 
Kelly has said that police shot at the car after it drove forward and struck an undercover officer and an unmarked police minivan. The information was based on interviews with witnesses and two officers who did not fire their weapons, he said.
 
But a witness account emerged Monday disputing that version of events.
 
Trini Wright, a dancer at the strip club where Bell's bachelor party was held, told the Daily News she was going to a diner with the men and was putting her makeup bag in the trunk of their car when the police minivan appeared.
 
"The minivan came around the corner and smashed into their car. And they (the police) jumped out shooting," Wright, 28, told the newspaper for Monday editions. "No 'stop.' No 'freeze.' No nothing."
 
Kelly had said Saturday the police department was still piecing together what happened and that it was too early to say whether the shooting was justified. He said it was unclear whether the officers, who were in plain clothes, identified themselves before firing.
 
On Sunday, Browne said, "We are continuing to look for additional witnesses to shed light on the incident and assisting the district attorney's office with its investigation."
 
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Kelly planned to meet with community leaders at City Hall on Monday. Bloomberg and his aides were in contact with Bell's family and community leaders throughout the weekend.
 
Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre, made a quiet visit to the site of his shootings before dawn Monday, lighting candles clustered around a photograph of the smiling couple with one of their daughters.
 
The shootings occurred after 4 a.m. Saturday outside the Kalua Cabaret in Queens. Kelly said the incident stemmed from an undercover operation by seven officers investigating the club.
 
Bell was struck twice. The survivors were Joseph Guzman, 31, who was shot at least 11 times, and Trent Benefield, 23, who was hit three times. Guzman was in critical condition Sunday and Benefield was stable.
 
The officers' shots struck the men's car 21 times. They also hit nearby homes and shattered windows at a train station, though no residents were injured.
 
Police thought one of the men in the car might have had a gun, but investigators found no weapons. It was unclear what prompted police to open fire, Kelly said.
 
According to Kelly, the groom was involved in a verbal dispute outside the club, and one of his friends referred to a gun.
 
An undercover officer walked closely behind Bell and his friends as they headed for their car. As he walked toward the front of the vehicle, the car drove forward, striking the officer and minivan, Kelly said.
 
The officer was apparently the first to open fire, Kelly said. He had served on the force for five years. One 12-year veteran fired his weapon 31 times, emptying two full magazines, Kelly said.
 
In total, it is believed 50 bullets were fired, he said. It was the first time any of the officers, all of whom carried 9 mm handguns, had been involved in a shooting, he said.
 
At some point, Bell backed the car onto a sidewalk, hitting a building gate, police said. He then drove forward, striking the police vehicle a second time, Kelly said.
 
The police department's policy on shooting at moving vehicles states: "Police officers shall not discharge their firearms at or from a moving vehicle unless deadly force is being used against the police officers or another person present, by means other than a moving vehicle."
 
The police officers' group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care said it was issuing a vote of no confidence in Kelly over the shooting.
 
Community leaders planned a rally Dec. 6 at police headquarters.
 
This isn't the first time the NYPD has come under scrutiny over officer-involved shootings.
 
In 1999, police killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea in western African who was shot 19 times. The four officers in that case were acquitted of criminal charges. And in 2003, Ousmane Zongo, a native of Burkina Faso in western African, was hit four times, twice in the back.
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Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.
 
 
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Newsday.com
 
Newsday
 

Protesters demand answers

Politicians, activists speak against killing of man on wedding day, saying it’s reminiscent of past police brutality

By Reid J. Epstein.

November 26, 2006, 10:54 PM EST
 
...By yesterday afternoon, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others were comparing Bell to Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima and other high-profile victims of police brutality.

"I have a feeling that this case is going to be a watershed case like Diallo and Louima," Sharpton said. "This is going to be a watershed on the vice squad and undercover policing."

Speaking outside the Community Church of Christ in Jamaica, Sharpton said Bell's death -- and the serious injuries suffered by two friends who were in the car with him -- has angered some people. At one of a series of rallies yesterday, crowds at Rufus King Park near Mary Immaculate Hospital where Bell's friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield are being treated, chanted "no justice, no peace" and counted together from one to 50 to simulate the number of shots fired.

"I'm going to keep this in the street," Sharpton said...
 
 
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The New York Times
 
 50 Shots Fired, and the Experts Offer a Theory
Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
 
Protesters at a rally Sunday at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens, demanding answers for a fatal police shooting.
 
Experts suggested that “contagious shooting” played a role in the police shooting of a bridegroom in Queens.
 
A Day After a Fatal Shooting, Questions, Mourning and Protest
The undercover police officer who fired the first shots at a carload of men in Queens suspected at least one of the men had a gun.
 
 
...Roughly 300 protesters gathered at a fiery rally led by Mr. Sharpton in front of Mary Immaculate Hospital yesterday, where Mr. Benefield and Mr. Guzman were recovering from their bullet wounds. Some protesters called for the ouster of Mr. Kelly; others demanded that the five officers resign.
 
Malcolm Smith, a Democratic state senator from Queens, urged calm, saying an impartial investigation was under way, but was drowned out by a chorus of shouts and boos. When Thomas White Jr., a councilman who represents the 28th District in Jamaica, said “We are not going to be angry,” the crowd roared back: “Oh, yes we are!”
 
Many at the protest saw parallels between Saturday’s shooting and the death of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Western African immigrant who was fatally gunned down by police officers in 1999. One sign read, “41 now 50,” a reference to the number of shots fired at Mr. Diallo and the number fired Saturday night.
 
In Mr. Diallo’s shooting death, though, the four officers who fired at him were white. The undercover officer who fired the first shots Saturday was a Hispanic black, according to the police. Two other officers who fired at the Altima were black, and another two were white, one of whom went through one clip and reloaded his pistol, firing a total of 31 shots.
 
Mr. Bell’s fiancée, Ms. Paultre, collapsed while walking from Community Church of Christ, where supporters were gathered, to the rally, her face twisted with grief. After the rally, protesters marched around the hospital, filling the street and sidewalks and chanting. They marched to the 103rd police precinct station, where officers stood at metal barricades, but the tension broke, and the crowd returned to the hospital.
After night fell, people gathered in front of Mr. Benefield’s apartment building on 123-65 147th Street in Queens, holding candles, laying flowers and murmuring prayers.
 
“Those shootouts are like the Wild Wild West out there,” said Bishop Lester Williams, the pastor at the Community Church of Christ, who was going to officiate at the wedding. “That’s an execution — that’s like putting someone in front of a firing squad...”
 
News Analysis
Mayor Focuses on Dialogue in the Aftermath
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has an established, politically useful record of reaching out to black leaders at times of crisis.
 
...Mr. Sharpton, who led angry street protests in the wake of the Diallo shooting, took the city to task yesterday, signaling that he will not shirk from confrontation in this case. He compared the death of Mr. Bell to Mr. Diallo and to Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was brutalized in a police station house in Brooklyn in August 1997.
 
“It’ll be the first major case of its kind of the 21st century in New York,” Mr. Sharpton said of the Bell case. “People are very energized about it. I think the city should be working to suspend those cops and show they’re seriously going after some justice here...”
 
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New York Amsterdam News
 
 
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Rev. Herbert Daughtry and City Councilman Charles Barron also spoke:
 
WBAI archives 6-9 am Wakeup Call today
 
 
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also of possible interest:
 
Fwd:
 
Subject: ... NYPD HEARING: MON. 11/27 10:30 AM

NYPD HEARING ON NEW PARADE PERMIT RULES
MONDAY, NOV. 27, 2006, ONE POLICE PLAZA
10:30 AM PRESS CONFERENCE
11:00 AM HEARING
 
       Come support efforts to oppose NYPD's latest attempt to restrict freedom of speech & assembly!
 
Assemble for Rights NYC
New Yorkers dedicated to keeping freedom of assembly and speech alive and well in our city.

Our Rights Are Under Siege!

The rights to free speech and to freely assemble are under threat in NYC!

NYPD Proposal:

New Rules Could Go Into Effect By The End of This Year

Twice this year the NYPD has tried to create new draconian rules dictating when people can peacefully assemble. A few weeks ago in late October the NYPD announced the latest version of new rules they plan to impose. You can read them HERE. These rules are not significantly changed from rules the NYPD tried to sneak in during the summer, but were defeated by public outcry in August. You can read that first version HERE

Our Proposal:

The Assemble For Rights coalition believes only the New York City Council, as the representatives of the people, have the authority to make laws affecting our fundamental rights, and we believe NYC needs new public gathering rules! The city's current rules are not effective in protecting civil liberties nor do they give the NYPD clear guidelines for policing public events. We have put forward legislation: The NYC First Amendment Act which will protect free speech while ensuring the public safety. We urge the City Council to adopt it.

Help Spread The Word!

The press has been lazy in informing the public about the scope of the NYPD proposed rules, and city council will not act unless they feel compelled to do so. Please join us and help spread the word. On the side panel of this website is a list of things you can do, and you can become a member of the Assemble For Rights coalition by signing up here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

that is such a tragedy to see somone you love never coming back due to irressponsible acts of untrained under cover cops that went trigger happy for the hell of it

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