May 31, 2007

A lawyer representing the estate of Sean Bell, the Queens man who was fatally shot by the police after leaving his bachelor party in November, has called for a federal investigation of the New York Police Department for possible civil rights violations.

The lawyer, Michael A. Hardy, said in a letter Monday to Michael J. Garcia, the United States attorney in Manhattan, that the Police Department had a history of using excessive force in minority communities. Hardy claims that since 1999, NYPD officers have killed more than 100 people, most of them black or Hispanic. The NYPD says there's no discrimination, "considering the descriptions of suspects provided by victims of crime."

The recent shootings and the history of fatal shootings, Mr. Hardy wrote, “certainly suggest that the N.Y.P.D. is engaged in a pattern and practice of continuous and systemic violations that have, at minimum, a disparate impact in black and Hispanic communities.”

 He is also representing the family of Fermin Arzu (Pictured above), who was fatally shot by an off-duty officer in the Bronx on May 18.

“While all agree that the job of New York City police officer is a dangerous and difficult one, and most people have the highest regard and for members of the department,” the letter said, “something is terribly wrong within the department which is having a fatal and disproportionate impact within the New York City communities of color.”

The United States attorney’s office had no comment on the letter yesterday.

The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said there was no discrimination, “considering the descriptions of suspects provided by victims of crime.” He added that the shooting of Mr. Arzu was being thoroughly investigated.

In the Bell case, a grand jury indicted two officers on manslaughter charges and a third officer on a misdemeanor endangerment charge.

The NYPD is defending itself after a lawyer asked federal prosecutors yesterday to look into whether the department has violated the civil rights of blacks and Hispanics.

Attorney Michael Hardy made the request. He represents the family of Fermin Arzu, the Honduran immigrant shot and killed by an off-duty police officer in the Bronx earlier this month.  [MORE] [MORE]

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