Protesters rally outside the Queens district attorney’s office
(Photo: Thomas Good / NLN)
QUEENS, N.Y. — Angry protesters filled Queens Boulevard after the verdict in the Sean Bell shooting was handed down. Normally a dangerous place for pedestrians, the boulevard was temporarily closed to traffic after protesters attending a rally outside the Queens district attorney’s office spilled into the streets.
Protesters gathered outside the Queens district attorney’s office on Friday afternoon – after Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman handed down a not guilty verdict for three NYPD detectives charged with manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the shooting of Sean Bell.
In November 2006 Bell was shot dead and his two passengers were seriously wounded when police fired 50 bullets into his car. Bell and his passengers were unarmed and unaware the men firing on them were police officers. The officers were later indicted for manslaughter and reckless endangerment. The trial took place in Queens Supreme Court and was decided by Justice Cooperman after the defendants waived their right to a jury trial.
The Peoples Justice Coalition described the not guilty verdict as “a bold affront to the human rights of Sean Bell and all of us” and sponsored a 5:30 P.M. rally to protest the decision. In a park adjacent to the district attorney’s office, people who had lost family members in previous shootings spoke out against police violence. Later, demonstrators marched out of the park and on to Queens Boulevard. Chants of “NYPD go to hell, we are all Sean Bell” and “fifty shots equals murder” expressed the protesters’ frustration with the police department and a legal system rally organizers described as unjust. The nonviolent march ended near the site where the police shooting of Sean Bell, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman had taken place.
A protester marches down Queens Boulevard
(Photo: Thomas Good / NLN)
Although Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman acquitted the three NYPD detectives charged in the 2006 shooting – the officers still face a Department of Justice investigation to determine if they violated the civil rights of the shooting victims. Attorney Sanford Rubenstein has also filed a civil suit against the detectives and the NYPD, on behalf of Bell’s fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell.
Outraged with the verdict, Reverend Al Sharpton said more protests are planned and will include acts of civil disobedience.
