WOULDN'T IT BE CHEAPER...

if the N.Y.P.D. just stopped hiring thugs and killers to "Protect and Serve" ? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

~ ~
New York to Pay $7 Million in Police Shooting Case


Closing a key chapter in one of the most controversial police shootings in recent
memory, New York City agreed on Tuesday to
pay more than $7 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the family of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old black man who was fatally shot
by the police outside a strip club in Queens
on his wedding day in 2006.



The decision by the city came after two days of intense negotiations in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Mr. Bell’s estate would receive $3.25 million, and two friends of Mr. Bell’s who were injured in the episode would also receive payments: Joseph Guzman would get $3 million, and Trent Benefield $900,000.

The case set off an emotional debate over the use of deadly force by the police and prompted the city to change some of its policing procedures.

On Nov. 25, 2006, five police officers fired 50 shots into the Nissan Altima that Mr. Bell was driving. The car struck a detective in the leg and hit a police van just before the officers began firing.

None of the three men in the car had guns, although the officers apparently believed at least one did. ["apparently" ? to whom?]

Three of the officers were acquitted of manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges in State Supreme Court in Queens in 2008. The other two officers who opened fire did not face criminal charges. [Imagine everyone's surprise"]

In 2007, Mr. Guzman, Mr. Benefield and the family of Mr. Bell filed a lawsuit, which accused the defendants of wrongful death, negligence, assault and civil rights violations. It had been stalled since then as the state and federal governments and city police officials investigated the shooting.

In a statement, Michael A. Cardozo, the city’s corporation counsel, said:
“The Sean Bell shooting highlighted the complexities our dedicated officers must
face each day. The city regrets the loss of life in this tragic case, and we share our deepest condolences with the Bell family. [eyewash]

The city is also settling claims with Mr. Guzman and Mr. Benefield. We hope that all parties can find some measure of closure by this settlement.”

Mr. Bell’s family was still in court as of 6:30 Tuesday night and had not yet commented on the settlement.
##

I remember hearing about that when it happened. I don't remember hearing that they struck an officer or a police vehicle before they were fired on, and I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that those things actually happened just AFTER they were fired on 50 times.

Tater,
That is what I thought! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I think/thought that was
more or less established at the time of the killers' cops' trial?

Do you know what happened -(if anything at all!)
about the man (East Indian? Pakistani?) who was shot
(47! times!) by a bunch of N.Y. thugs cops - the man was
reaching for his I.D. ? I can't find it anywhere...

Aha! Maybe...

"NYC looks to stop spreading bedbug infestations"

By SARA KUGLER FRAZIER, Associated Press Writer
– 22 mins ago


Probably they don't mean the cops... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I don't recall off the top of my head what happened in the case you mentioned. Wasn't that the one that Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about?

YES! I forgot that.
Poor cops; so much menace everywhere - and it only took
-what? 11 of them (I forget ; maybe it was only 4)
to shoot an unarmed man on his front stoop?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

"Amadou Diallo (September 2, 1975 – February 4, 1999) was a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant in New York City who was shot and killed on February 4, 1999 by four [1] New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss. The four officers fired a total of 41 rounds. The shooting took place at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of The Bronx. The four were part of the now-defunct Street Crimes Unit.



All four officers were acquitted at trial in Albany, New York."


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"In the early morning of February 4, 1999, Diallo was standing near his building after returning from a meal. Police officers Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy passed by in a Ford Taurus when they thought Diallo matched the description of a now-captured serial rapist and approached him. The officers were in plain clothes. The officers claimed that they loudly identified themselves as NYPD officers and that Diallo ran up the outside steps toward his apartment house doorway at their approach, ignoring their orders to stop and "show his hands". The porch lightbulb was out and Diallo was backlit by the inside vestibule light, showing only a silhouette. Diallo then reached into his jacket and withdrew his wallet. At the same time, lead officer McMellon tripped over the curb, causing him to fire a round from his pistol into the pavement and fall. (Note: this specific incident of what is known as a "sympathetic squeeze"[citation needed] has resulted in nationwide changes to police training policy to place the trigger finger on the frame of the pistol, not the trigger guard.)

Seeing the suspect holding a small square object, hearing a shot, and seeing the officer in front fall, Carroll yelled "Gun!" to alert his colleagues. The officers opened fire on Diallo. The four officers fired forty-one shots, hitting Diallo nineteen times. The post-shooting investigation found no weapons on Diallo's body; the item he had pulled out of his jacket was not a gun, but a rectangular black wallet. The internal NYPD investigation ruled the officers had acted within policy, based on what a reasonable police officer would have done in the same circumstances with the information they had.

On March 25, a Bronx grand jury indicted the officers on charges of second-degree murder and reckless endangerment. On December 16 a New York appellate court ordered a change of venue to Albany, New York, stating that pretrial publicity had made a fair trial in New York City impossible. On February 25, 2000, after two days of deliberations, a mixed-race jury in Albany acquitted the officers of all charges."

Tater,
THANK you. (Although I'm sorry I asked, I think...) [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Boy, that was a looong time ago! And my memory sucks! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

"All four officers were acquitted at trial in Albany, New York."
Imagine my surprise.

It seems it's almost impossible to get a jury to convict
a cop. Almost.
The morons from New Orleans are FINALLY charged, anyway.
We'll see. They may actually! loose that one...
It took the FEDS filing a Civil Rights suit to get those
monsters for Rodney King.

Here, if it looks like the cop can't win, the cop waves the jury
and tries for a judge-only trial. I've never seen them convicted.
Quite a few losses in a civil court after an acquital in criminal court,
though.