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February 28, 2008
Posted: 02:07 PM ET
NEW YORK – It will soon be up to a judge to determine whether the so-called “50 shots” cops should be found guilty in a case that could also have nationwide ramifications on law enforcement. Three New York City police officers are charged in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell outside a Queens, New York, strip club on the night before his wedding.  Sean Bell was shot to death by police outside this club.
 Detectives Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver, the two officers who fired the most rounds, are charged with manslaughter. Detective Marc Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment. It may seem like an open-and-shut case: officers unloading a barrage of bullets on an unarmed Bell, who was inside a vehicle with two other men who also were wounded in the early morning hours of November 26, 2006. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “It seemed like excessive force was used.” The district attorney in his opening statement Monday said that one of the three undercover officers failed to display his badge in a clearly visible manner and wait for backup before confronting the three men and then gave contradictory orders to Bell and his friends. The prosecutor went on to say, “It will be clear that what happened cannot be explained away as a mere accident or mistake.” Lawyers for the officers, who were working an undercover investigation of drugs and prostitution, have said their clients believed Bell and his friends were going to retrieve a gun from the vehicle to settle a dispute. One of the officers approached the car and Bell tried to flee, driving into an officer, then twice rammed into an unmarked police van as the bullets flew. While the prosecutor said one officer who fired 31 shots would have found there was no threat if he had “paused to reassess,” a defense attorney estimated that it took as few as nine seconds to fire all those bullets from the officer’s semiautomatic pistol, leaving no time to reassess the situation. Another defense attorney said later in the week that Bell was drunk and “out of control” at the time. Right now, the general rule in police training is that officers must use deadly force when they perceive a threat of imminent death or bodily harm. While officers are told when to shoot, it’s not always as clear when they should stop. Law enforcement may have to reassess how it handles such situations. – Bob Regan, In Session senior executive producer Filed under: Bob Regan • Sean Bell |
 
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