Though acquitted of criminal charges in a bench trial last month, the three detectives involved in the fatal 2006 shooting of Sean Bell will face police department disciplinary charges. Four other officers involved with the shooting, supervising the undercover operation and working on the crime scene were also charged.
Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper are charged with “discharging their firearms outside of department guidelines." Isnora, who was working undercover, is also charged with violating undercover operation protocol.
Officer Michael Carey, also a part of the operation and who fired one shot, was also charged with violating department protocol for discharging a firearm and their supervisor, Lieutenant Gary Napoli, is charged with three counts of failing to supervise, and the crime scene unit's Sergeant Hugh McNeil and Detective Robert Knapp were charged with "failing to ensure a thorough crime scene investigation."
The cops could be fired if found guilty, but the NYPD is waiting for the federal probe to end before taking action. The detectives' union head said they will be "vigorously" defended. Still, the Reverend Al Sharpton thinks the cops should be fired immediately, "This is the kind of aggressive and no-nonsense attitude we must have with policing in other parts of the country. There must be no tolerance for crime, but also no tolerance for police misconduct."
Photograph from a March 2007 rally by Justin T. Shockley on Flickr
