Spring Break
NYPD detectives appear before judge, have first encounter with victims' families
The Associated Press
Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: News
|
In a packed, tension-filled courtroom, the three officers stood with their hands clasped during the 20-minute hearing as they pleaded not guilty in the shooting that killed 23-year-old Sean Bell and wounded two of his friends.
The officers fired 46 of the 50 shots. The judge set bail for the two officers who fired the most bullets and released the other without bail.
Shooting survivors Joseph Guzman, in a wheelchair, and Trent Benefield, using a crutch, attended with Nicole Paultre Bell, who was engaged to Bell and legally took his name after he died.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown on Monday unsealed the indictment charging Detectives Michael Oliver, who fired 31 times, and Gescard Isnora, a decorated undercover officer who fired 11 times, with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter.
If convicted of the most serious charges, the detectives would receive mandatory prison time - up to 25 years.
Oliver also was charged with endangerment for a bullet that smashed through the window of an occupied house. And a third officer, Detective Marc Cooper, was charged with a misdemeanor for a bullet that struck a train station across the street.
"This grand jury acted in the most responsible and conscientious fashion," Brown said. "This was a case that was, I'm sure, not easy for them to resolve."
The case renewed allegations that the NYPD is too quick on the trigger and sparked protests by activists who say the department is too quick to judge black men harshly, a claim city officials deny. Bell was black, as are Guzman and Benefield. Cooper, 39, and Isnora, 28, are also black. Oliver, 35, is white.
Bell's mother wore buttons with photographs of her son to the hearing. Before the proceedings, she leaned forward, bowed her head, closed her eyes and placed her hands together prayerfully. Bell's father stared straight ahead. The family's minister dabbed his eyes with a tissue.
The officers showed little emotion as they stood in the 300-seat courtroom, which was filled to capacity.
"He is visibly upset and shaken," Oliver's attorney, Jim Culleton, said afterward. "This is an indictment. It is proof of absolutely nothing. It's merely an accusation."
Be the first to comment on this story