Last night, Trent Benefield left the hospital a week and a half after he and his friends were shot by police outside a Queens nightclub. His friend, Sean Bell, was killed while the third friend, Joseph Guzman, remains in the hospital with around 19 wounds. Benefield thanked the Reverend "Al Sharpton, the community, the community leaders for sticking by" him. And he told NY1 that there was "no fourth man," as police have claimed, in their car.
Benefield spoke to a group of community leaders, including Sharpton, who met last night. The Sun reports the group agreed to draw up "an itemized plan for improving police-community relations" and that they would organize a march on Fifth Avenue on December 16. Another group, the December 12ht Movement, is protesting outside of One Police Plaza tonight. A group of City Council members is also developing a "reform package to address incidents such as the Bell shooting."
Attorney General and Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer backed Queens DA Richard Brown's decision not to call a special prosecutor. Spitzer said, "Dick Brown, who is a superb district attorney, everybody has full confidence in him. He was a great counsel to the governor. He was a distinguished judge. He brings everything one would hope to this investigation. I have never believed in duplicative investigations."
And Benfield's lawyer also criticized the police for revealing that Benefield and Bell had previously been under investigation by the police for drug dealing. Attorney Michael Hardy accused Pat Lynch of the police union of trying to "dirty up the victims."
Photograph of Trent Benefield leaving Mary Immaculate Hospital by Tina Fineberg/AP
