Results tagged “endowmentassociation”

Under intense scrutiny from the community and media, the trial of three police officers in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man started today. Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges while Detective Mark Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment in the 2006 death of Sean Bell, who was killed hours before his wedding when his bachelor party crossed paths with an undercover police operation.

The three police officers facing trial for the November 2006 shooting of an unarmed man are requesting to their trial moved from Queens. Lawyers for Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper claim they won't be able to get a fair trial in Queens, blaming media attention for "incurably poison[ing]" any potential jury pool.

At 6:30AM yesterday morning, federal agents delivered "wake-up" subpoenas to the Reverend Al Shaprton and four of his employees at the National Action Network. The FBI and IRS are looking for financial and corporate records, some dating back to 2001, as part of an investigation into Sharpton's financing of his 2004 presidential campaign as well as allegations of tax fraud. Ten people in total were subpoenaed, including a former chief of staff who left in...

The family of late NYPD detective James Zadroga met with city medical examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch. Earlier this week, Hirsch determined that Zadroga, who spent 470 hours working rescue and recovery after the September 11 attacks, did not die from issues directly related to World Trade Center dust.

Trent Benefield, one of the victims in the undercover police shooting of three unarmed men outside a Queens nightclub last year, was arrested Tuesday night for attacking is girlfriend on a street. Plainclothes officers reportedly saw Benefield yelling, "F------ bitch!" before, per the Daily News, "he leaned out his car window and punched Nyla Page-Walthrus, 19, in the throat," "smacked her with the vehicle's door, grabbed her by the neck and hit her in the face."

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Ronell Wilson, who was found guilty and sentenced to death in January for the 2003 murder of two undercover police officers, was formally sentenced yesterday. The prosecution and defense argued their positions on the sentence once again, and then Wilson, who did not speak during the entire trial, said:

"I would like to say that since there’s no jury here — like the prosecutors had said plenty of times that I had to prove to them — I’d like to say to the families of the victims that I’m sorry, I’m very sorry for the pain that I really caused you. I know it don't mean much and you still look at me as the lowest thing on Earth, but in my heart I tell you that I'm very sorry again...

Continue reading "Staten Island Cop Killer Faces Death"

Hot potato no more? After the local papers seized on information (leaked by police sources) that a drug dealer claimed that Sean Bell, who was shot by police in November, shot him last summer, the man has come forward to deny he identified Bell as his assailant. Anthony Jeffers told the Daily News, "Here and there I sell drugs in the neighborhood. But I didn't say nothing about Sean Bell. I don't want no trouble with any of this. I called the cops today and told them that."

And many want the mayor to crack down on aggressive police tactics. City Councilman Leroy Comrie tells the Times, "[Bloomberg is] doing the outreach, he’s doing the healing, but it’s after the fact. He’s patching the wound, but he’s not doing the deep surgery required to keep the wound from reappearing."

Three detectives were charged in the November 2006 shooting of Sean Bell outside a Queens nightclub, and all three pleaded not guilty. Two of the police officers, Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora, face serious charges that include first-degree and second-degree manslaughter (it was originally thought they would only face second-degree manslaughter), while Detective Marc Cooper faces charges of reckless endangerment. When asked how he would plea, Isnora's lawyer Philip Karasyk said, "Not guilty of each and every count of the indictment."

Yesterday, a grand jury decided to indict three detectives in the shooting of Sean Bell, an unarmed black man who had been celebrating the night before his wedding day at a Queens nightclub. The charges were manslaughter for Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver and reckless endangerment for Marc Cooper. Isnora fired the first shot, one of 11 he eventually fired, while Oliver fired the most, 31 rounds. Cooper fired 4 times; in total, the police shot at Bell and his two friends 50 times. Two other officers, Michael Carey and Paul Headley, were called to testify but were not charged. A Fordham Law professor told Newsday that the grand jury's decision to charge three cops and clear two others "suggested [the grand jury was] careful."

Update: The NYPD will have to be on alert on Monday now? Earlier, WNBC reported that the grand jury investigating the fatal police shooting of Sean Bell has reached a verdict but will wait until Monday to release it. But now a defense lawyer says the jury voted to indict three of the detectives involved: Michael Oliver who fired 31 shots, Gescard F. Isnora who fired the first of 11 shots, and Marc Cooper. Cooper's lawyer Paul Martin said, "I am disappointed with the grand jury’s decision but this is just the first stage of a long process and I am confident that once all the facts are considered by a jury of Detective Cooper’s peers, that he will be exonerated of all charges."

The first day of grand jury deliberations in the Sean Bell shooting case ended without a verdict, but a new witness may have emerged.

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.”

Toxicology reports now show that Sean Bell, the unarmed man who was killed in a barrage of police bullets hours before his wedding, had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. Which gives the groups representing the police some soundbites regarding the events of the night. The Detectives' Endowment Association president Michael Palladino said, "[This report] gives some insight into why Sean Bell acted the way he did behind the wheel. His behavior was reckless and life-threatening to the officer he hit. If the reports are true, his judgment was impaired."

Oh, coffee, oh, lifeblood of our city: Washington State coffee company, Political Grounds, best known from their humorous coffees, like "Say Howdy Saudi," "Roast the French," and "Infidels R Us," have added an NYPD styled coffee to their roster: "New York's Finest." The bag reads:

Ethiopian Harrar Mexican blend from our finest premium coffee region. You won't find Batman and Robin fighting crime here. But you will find Gotham's real heroes, protecting the worlds greatest city against the rodents of crime.

Newsday says that Political Grounds owner, Michael Wilson "suggested a Batman and Robin theme in which the two veteran detectives are seen preparing to strip away their clothing in order to battle crime like the dynamic duo." Um, it seems more Ace and Gary than Batman and Robin, but maybe Gothamist is splitting hairs. And are the criminal rodents coming from or fleeing to Brooklyn? What kind of a dis is this? The actual NYPD detectives, Bob Mattera, of Queens Homicide, and Marc Alvarez of Manhattan South Narcotics, actually chose the Ethiopian Harrar blend themselves, and $1 from each $8 bag goes to the Detectives Endowment Association fund for children and widows.