January 23, 2007
Grand Jury Hears Evidence in Sean Bell Shooting
The NYPD released photographs of four of the five police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell last November. The NY Times says the photos were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request (the photograph of the fifth officer, the one who fired the first shot, was not released, due to his undercover status). This gave Detectives' Endowment Association president Michael J. Palladino opportunity to say, "The photos of the officers indicate that racism had absolutely nothing to do with this shooting. The photos nullify the racism aspect of the shooting because at least three of the five officers are people of color.”
Yesterday, a grand jury in Queens began to hear evidence to decide if the officers should be charged with a crime. The evidence will take weeks to get through, and the lawyer representing Bell's parents, Nelson Mitchell, complained, "Prosecution of this case is flawed. It's already taken two months, and it's going to take an additional month to present evidence to the grand jury. This investigation seems to be an investigation for exoneration." However, Queens DA Richard Brown responded, "Our presentation will take as long as necessary to assure a thorough and complete presentment of the facts and the law."
Bell was being feted by friends with a bachelor party the night before his wedding. When Bell and friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield entered their car, a chaotic series of events led to Bell, Guzman and Benefield being fired upon 50 times by undercover police. Bell died while Guzman and Benefield were wounded. Outside the courthouse, a group of Bell's friends and family has started a vigil. Bell's uncle Al Walker told the Sun, "We are here to make sure Sean Bell never gets out of the eye of the public so that this never happens again to anybody's family."
Here's an explanation of the grand jury process in NY State from the Manhattan DA's office. More about the Queens shooting.
Four of the five police officers who shot at Bell, Guzman and Benefield, from left to right, Michael Carey, Paul Headley, Marc Cooper and Michael Oliver (Oliver is the cop who allegedly fired 31 times)
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Oliver's cute, too bad he's trigger happy...
carey is cuter.
The middle two are the whitest i hve ever seen.
joke.
why are they all on green screen? is this to help us fark them?
This does not nullify the racism aspect completely, because the guy who started shooting hasn't been shown. The rest just dumbly followed his lead.
Plus I count two black guys and two white guys. Michael J. Palladino is a dumb and dangerous as the second guy looks. Is this supposed to make us feel better about NYC police? Who hires these freaks? Bloomberg! HELP US! Bloomberg? Are you even there?
Even if the first shooter is black, it doesn't mean racism is not a factor. I'm black, but I can't help but be affected by persistent messages from society that relate to race -- messages about ideas of beauty and messages that black men are violent.
I'm not saying the shooters go out and say, consciously, let's shoot black guys. I'm saying we all exist in an environment and systems that condition us for racism. Some systems are worse than others, and it's quite possible (given the recurrence of police shooting down unarmed black men) that the police, as an institution, is more racist that society as a whole.
It's vital that we recognize this sort of institutional or systemic racism -- if we don't we can't change it. It's not enough to say "Oh, I'm not a racist" or "He's black, it couldn't be racist."
That's the first time I've even see a dept. photo of a cop smiling, even smirking. Usually their ID's are under a red background which means they are armed.
Technology will weed out the bad, with all these cameraphones, MP3 players with mics, one could record anything. sure it might not be admissible but it's concrete proof. At least, bring it to the press and let the public know. and the Internet too.
Jen, it's Neville Mitchell not Nelson Mitchell. But you're a blogger so you don't have to check facts, right?
I know for a fact that those black officers can be racist to any color (including there own) when it comes to generalizing, geting money, or highering thier position. I really feel that the reason they choose not to show the officer, that initiated the shooting, because he has a high position in the force. Yes,If you look at the officers of color,you can tell that they know they were wrong,but they had to roll with thier "brothers in blue".
There are good officer that serve and pertect, but thier other officers that use thier athority to try to over power people,no matter thier color, just because of thier position. It's time out for you'll. Time in for God "what is in darkness will come to light".