City Settles Sean Bell Shooting For $7.15 Million

Photograph taken in December 2006 by Casa de Darnoc on Flickr

The city reached a settlement with the family of Sean Bell, who was fatally shot by the police on the eve of his wedding in November 2006. His family will receive $3.25 million; his friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, who also injured from the 50 shots fired by undercover police, will receive $3 million and $900,000 respectively. The NYC Law Department Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo said, "The Sean Bell shooting highlighted the complexities our dedicated officers must face each day. The City regrets the loss of life in this tragic case, and we share our deepest condolences with the Bell family."

Bell was leaving a bachelor party at Club Kalua, a strip club in Jamaica, Queens, when undercover police officers, on the scene to make prostitution arrests, believed Bell and his friends were armed. Then a chaotic scene unfolded: The undercover detectives claimed they identified themselves and told Bell, Guzman and Benefield to get out of the car while drawing their guns, but it's unclear if Bell, who was driving, heard them and drove into the cops upon seeing the drawn guns. When Guzman reached for his waistband, the police thought they were going to be fired upon, so they fired in return. It turned out that none of the men were armed.

Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, told the Daily News, "I believe the settlement is fair. No amount of money can provide closure for losing Sean. I don't think there will ever be closure," adding, "What's important is my fight doesn't end now." The News says she is pushing state legislatures to pass a package of laws to reform the Civilian Complaint Review Board, require drug testing when cops fire their guns and ban arrest quotas."

Paultre Bell's and Bell's two daughters are now 4 and 7 years old; the children will receive the money because she and Bell were not married at the time when he was killed (she later took his last name). Guzman said, "I don’t think a black or Hispanic man’s life means much in this city." Guzman still has four bullets in his back, "I deal with so much pain, I don't even feel it."

Michael Palladino, the head of the Detectives Endowment Association, said the settlement was "laughable" and "absurd," "The taxpayer is on the hook for $7 million and the lawyers walk away with $2 million and the one with the most culpability here is Sean Bell. There's something wrong with that picture, because if you take a look at the situation in its entirety, it’s that the police were there performing their lawful duty; Bell was intoxicated and he tried to run the police down."

In 2008, three of the police officers were found not guilty of charges including manslaughter, reckless endangerment and assault.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on July 28, 2010 9:45 AM

Comments [rss]

sleeplessknight

Pay a Criminals family millions of dollars...Wow I want to live on that planet....oh wait, I do

5borough

Remember when they went to Bell and his babymomma's JOBS and interviewed their coworkers about the tragedy? No? Why with all that media attention, how could they not go by the WORKPLACES of the poor people?

soxinthecity

If prostitution were legal, this shooting, aftermath, and payout would never have happened.

bashmentgirl

Some of you people are utterly disgusting.

--First,Sean Bell and his friends were not drug dealers or thugs. They were drunk. However, Mr. Bell was already in the vehicle when the police drew their guns. Mr. Bell and his friends were not hardened criminal, the guns probably frightened them and the driver stepped on the gas.

-- Second, the police were negligent, irresponsible and broke a plethora of police department rules. The police did not follow protocol. Crime scene investigation actually found an officer's bullet blocks away on a train platform.

-- Third, too bad Mr. Bell's fiance isn't some welfare queen or crack-whore. Then you people would actually have a reason for being so damn judgmental. Mr. Bell's fiance is just a working mother whose fiance was killed by the NYPD on their wedding day.

Sean Bell should not have been drunk. However, The NYPD officers should not have been drinking so much either(one of the NYPD rules they failed to follow.)!!! The NYPD officers should not have fired so many bullets (another NYPD rule they failed to follow.)

sleeplessknight

YOU ARE A JACK ASS

bashmentgirl

"JACK ASS" is one word, not two words. You meant to call me a "JACKASS".

5borough

No life-criminals should get drunk, argue with prostitutes, argue with other criminals, threaten gun violence and then drunkenly slam a van into a police officer on foot and get shot.

I hope the city DNA tested those kids to seee if they were his.

Any sign of that nonexistant marriage license yet?

John L

That's not enough! It should have been at least a million for each bullet.

But its taxpayer money so they don't care. This needed to cost these cops their jobs and pensions then we'll see a little caution before they empty out their guns on someone else.

I've lived in New York all my life I've never even heard of criminals shooting someone 50 times.

whitecastlerock

I've lived in New York all my life I've never even heard of criminals shooting someone 50 times. I lived here my whole life too. There are plenty of savage criminals out there who slit people's throats, beat people to death with bike chains and belts, or shoot them in the face and then stomp on their bullet ridden head. They also shoot children, rape elderly women, drive over pedestrians with their cars, there are all types of despicable criminals in this town.

John L

I have too but have you ever heard of a criminal or group of criminals shooting a victim 50 times?

whitecastlerock

As a matter of fact I have-the criminal gangbangers in the projects who strafe courtyards filled with innocent bystanders with semi automatic gunfire. But those incidents aren't as sensational as this one.

John L

That's fantastic but can you point out even one incident where these criminal gangbangers shot a victim 50 times, here in NYC?

Please feel free to post a link to that article.

aprfctcrci

first off, sean bell was not shot 50 times. the car he was in was shot at 50 times by 4 different officers, and not every bullet hit the occupants.

second, there have been many incidents where criminals have fired an "excessive" number of rounds. in far rockaway last year there was a shooting where the criminal fired from an assault rifle all 30 rounds in his clip, killing one and causing an amputation on another. and that was only 1 person shooting, not 4.

third, READ THE NEW YORK STATE PENAL LAW. a car is a DEADLY WEAPON. which then gives a cop the legal right to defend himself or another with deadly physical force, with as many rounds as it takes to stop the threat.

John L

For all you nonbelievers read the tesimony

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/24/nyregion/20080424_BELL_GRAPHIC.html

What it indicates his a barrage of mistakes by police officers which led to 50 bullets landing as far as two blocks away, hitting cars, homes, and even an AirTrain Terminal. When the gunsmoke cleared one innocent man was dead and three innocent men were injured and it seems that the real gunman, Fabio Coicou, walked away with his gun.

These men went out to celebrate the upcoming marriage of Sean Bell. During this Bachelor party they drank, as is customary during these celebrations. They got into an argument and according to the testimony there is some doubt as to whether someone in Bell's group said they were going to get a gun. The fact is that Sean Bell went back to the club to get his hat when he did Fabio Coicou displayed a gun and threatened Mr.Bell. Mr.Bell then returned to his car undoubtedly startled and then police officers and a unmarked police van descend on him and his friends in their Nissan Altima. According to witnesses they didn't identify themselves as officers, and I'm sure Bell felt this had to do with the threat from Fabio Coicou, minutes before. So he tried, in a futile attempt, to get away and he and his friends were shot at 50 times.

I'm willing to accept that this was a gross misunderstanding that led to a horrific accident. Cops genuinely thinking they were going to get a gun and commit a drive by and Mr.Bell and his friends thinking this was a group associated with the bouncers or Fabio Coicou that were going to kill them. But still there was no reason to shoot them 50 times, no reason whatsoever. The cops had a total disregard for Sean Bell and his friends' lives and anyone in the area, as the fact that bullets hit homes, cars parked blocks away and even a AirTrain Terminal with an employee inside can attest to.

Plain and simple the cops fucked up and recklessly shot at four innocent men 50 times, killing one, and in the process let the real gunman get away due to a mistake or bad judgement.

This was not the way this should've been handled and definitely not "New York's Finest's" finest hour. We can't everyone admit that so we can just move on.

John L

First of all, I don't give a fuck if there were 50 officers and each one shot one bullet the point is that it doesn't take 50 bullets to stop a bear and much less a human, it was excessive and unnecessary.

Second, even if this "criminal" shot 30 shots that still leaves him 20 bullets short of this fucking "police" firing squad.

Third, READ THE NEW YORK STATE PENAL LAW, you're allowed to used deadly force in your own self defense. The shame here is that Sean Bell and his friends really didn't have a gun so they could've protected themselves from this police firing squad, it worked for Larry Davis.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Commissioner Kelly is costing us money, NO more free rides on Bloomberg's private jet.

JacqueMehoff

that's OK, kelly will get rides from his celebrity groupies. They Love cops. I wonder what's going to happen in the next election if Quinn and kelly get's into it.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Quinn is that bytch really going to run for mayor when she belongs in JAIL!!!!!!!! And Kelly should remember Bernie Kerick. Dirt will come out if Kelly decides to run. :D

RoboticInsides

I never followed this case, but from the excerpt above, it seems like neither Sean nor his friends had guns. Were they high? Were they picking a fight? If you're just going out to a club to have fun with friends, you should not end up dead, simple as that.

theevilone

If you followed the case, you'd know that he hit a cop with his car. You'd also know that while inside the club, Guzman got into it with some guys and said he was going to go get his gun, so the cops believed he had one.