Mayor Bloomberg couldn't help but comment on the acquittal of Robert Ellis, who was on trial for the fatal shooting of police officer Russel Timoshenko (pictured). The Mayor said, "I don't want to criticize, but... inside I feel very strongly about it. There's something wrong here. A police officer [was] dedicating his life to protecting all of us. I found it very hard to understand how they could come up with the decision that they made." The Daily News' Errol Louis writes, "The jury's mind-boggling hair-splitting makes no sense." —Ellis was found guilty of weapons possession, yet not murder— "Some went overboard in venting their rage, like Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, who referred to Ellis as a 'mongrel' after the verdict - an unfortunate display of the same dehumanizing impulse that leads criminals to fire on cops. The challenge for cops, activists, union bosses and the media is to resist the urge to let a single injustice define us."
Published Dec 19, 2008
Modified Dec 19, 2008
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