Conyers vows thorough probe into NYPD Shooting of Sean Bell

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Monday met with the family of a man fatally shot by police just hours before his wedding, promising a thorough federal investigation of the incident.  Three New York police detectives were acquitted Friday on all counts in the case of Sean Bell, an unarmed man killed in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a strip club on November 25, 2006. Bell's two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were wounded in the shooting.

"We are going to be putting together the federal strategy," said Rep. John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a Michigan Democrat. "This is important." "We want to make sure that justice is served and that a message is sent out, not just to law enforcement but to the young people of this country, that these kinds of tragedies have to end in this country," he said. The Justice Department said it was conducting an independent investigation to determine if the trio's civil rights were violated.

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More Foul Tapes, Records of S.C. Troopers Using Excessive Force, Slurs Against Blacks

One case that hasn’t been investigated yet involves allegations that a black Columbia college student on his way to a new fast-food job was stopped and handcuffed to a guardrail on I-77 by a trooper, according to a letter from his mother to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, which was forwarded to DPS investigators. It also alleges that he was made to pull down his pants and remove his shoes and that he was taunted with a racial slur.

The allegations also include that officers ripped apart the dashboard of the car, which he had borrowed from his mother, and then gave him a $400 ticket when he couldn’t prove the car was covered by insurance, which she insisted it was, according to the records.  "Eric was devastated by the officer’s behavior and reminded me that I say they are there to protect and serve," Celeste Pinckney wrote March 7, according to a copy of a transcribed letter released Friday.

The officer was on a Patrol motorcycle, according to the letter, which isn’t equipped with video cameras.

The racial slur allegation came seven weeks after Gov. Mark Sanford withdrew his nomination of the current DPS director, Jim Schweitzer, after viewing a videotape showing a white state trooper using a racial slur and threatening a black man.

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Pressure on Black Governor of NY to Act in the Wake of the Sean Bell Case

Civil rights groups are aiming to rouse the activist side of Governor Paterson this week in the aftermath of a not guilty verdict for three detectives who killed an unarmed black man, Sean Bell.

Doubting that federal prosecutors will bring new civil rights charges against the detectives, the activists are resting their hopes for action on the former state senator from Harlem, who once protested alongside them after the 1999 shooting of another unarmed black man, Amadou Diallo.

Mr. Paterson was arrested for civil disobedience during the Diallo protests on almost the same spot where yesterday a civil rights lawyer, Norman Siegel, a state senator, Eric Adams, and leaders of a civil rights group, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, called on him to use his new power as governor to make changes to a system they say is ineffective in punishing police brutality.

Some of the changes proposed by the activists are ones Mr. Paterson himself has called for in the past, including the creation of a permanent post for an independent state prosecutor to investigate and prosecute police corruption and brutality - a post the governor has the power to create.

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Defense argues Immunity in Suit Alleging Excessive force at VA. Beach Jail: Mentally Ill, Restrained, Black Woman Brutally Beaten by Officers

A federal magistrate said he will recommend within two weeks whether a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged she was the victim of excessive force in the Virginia Beach jail should move forward. Janace Johnson, 60, who has schizoaffective disorder, in September sued the city of Virginia Beach, the state, Sheriff Paul Lanteigne, two sheriff’s deputies and a policeman.

A federal judge in March threw out all Johnson’s claims except for the ones alleging excessive force by sheriff’s deputies. The suit had alleged that she was wrongfully arrested and prosecuted. It also said Johnson did not receive necessary medical care and that law enforcement officers used excessive force against her while she was in the Virginia Beach jail. On Monday, a lawyer for Lanteigne and two sheriff’s deputies argued that his clients are protected by “qualified immunity,” which can shield government employees from claims of civil damages. Attorney Jeff Rosen said his clients were just doing their jobs when they wrestled Johnson to the ground after she refused to follow orders and after she hit a sheriff’s deputy in the face.

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NYPD is Probing Whether Officers Taunted, Prank Called Bell Family after Verdict

The NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating a cruel prank call to the family of Sean Bell's fiancée that originated from the Manhattan offices of a prominent police union, The Post has learned.
"Ha, ha, ha," someone said in a 1:15 p.m. Friday phone call to the home of Nicole Bell's father Les Paultre, according to a police source. The number for the Sergeants Benevolent Association came up on the caller ID.
"It was just horrible to get that phone call after coming back from the cemetery," said Nicole Bell. Her father said, "The guy was taunting us, laughing. It was horrible because we had just come back from the court and the cemetery." The president of the union, Edward Mullins, said, "If the accusations are true, we will deal with it." [MORE]

Outcome of Sean Bell Case leads to call for Special Prosecutor

A coalition of civil rights advocates on Sunday urged changes in the handling of police misconduct and brutality complaints after the acquittal of three officers involved in the shooting death of an unarmed man on his wedding day. They also called for a permanent state-level special prosecutor to investigate such cases.

"The verdict in the Sean Bell case proves it is almost impossible to successfully prosecute cases of police misconduct, especially in homicide cases," said lawyer Norman Siegel, former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "The verdict underscores the need for systemic change in the way New York handles these important and at times high profile cases, and to improve community relations," said Siegel, an outspoken advocate on civil rights and law enforcement issues.

Three city police officers were cleared Friday in the November 2006 shooting death of Bell outside a night club where he had just left his bachelor party. Two friends were wounded in the volley of 50 shots fired by the undercover officers and two colleagues. The officers charged said they thought they were in mortal danger, but no gun was found in Bell's car.

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Calls for Justice Are Loud in Sean Bell Case

Following Friday morning's announcement of Judge Cooperman's "not guilty on all counts" acquittal verdict of 3 of the 5 NYPD officers involved in the murder of Sean Bell, hundreds gathered in Queens to express their outrage. Disgusted by the trial process (determined by 1 judge rather than a jury), and the unjust outcome, the Peoples Justice rally began at 5:30pm by the Queens DA's office, with family members speaking of having lost loved ones to police brutality, and others speaking of personal experiences being victimized by law enforcement violence, including: Nicholas Heyward, Sr. spoke of his son - Nicholas Heyward, Jr. - murdered by the NYPD; members of Jayson Tirado's family; Juanita Young, mother of Malcolm Ferguson and founder of Parents Against Police Brutality; representatives of the Bushwick 32 case; Desis Rising Up & Moving, linking the struggle against police brutality to the struggle against the criminalization of immigrants. In addition to justice for Sean Bell and other specific cases, Peoples Justice is calling for an end to racist & militarized policing of our communities; the creation of a permanent independent prosecutor for all cases of police brutality in NYC; and increased efforts for community control of our safety through creation of community Cop Watch patrols and Know Your Rights work. [MORE]

• Pictured above: A nun calls police officers "murderers" after hearing the not guilty verdict in the case against three detectives during the Sean Bell trial, outside the Queens County Courthouse in New York April 25, 2008- Reuters. 
  
• Sharpton vows to 'close this city' after officer acquittals [MORE]
  

Monroe County Officer acquitted in 2004 death of Black Man

A mother whose son was gunned down by state narcotics agents four years ago in Monroe County has lost a federal lawsuit that claimed he was trapped in his vehicle and shot in ''execution fashion.'' Six undercover drug agents were sued by Debra Fraser-Howze, founder of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS in New York City; every agent but one was dropped earlier this month from the case by Magistrate Judge Henry S. Perkin, who presided over the case in Philadelphia.

Last Thursday, a jury acquitted the remaining agent, Jeffrey P. Aster, who fired the shot that killed 25-year-old Barron Wright. Wright was a former East Stroudsburg University disc jockey who lived in Bushkill, Pike County. Attempts to reach the family for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.

The suit alleged the men who shot Wright used "excessive and unnecessary force" and violated his rights under the Fourth, Fifth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Defendants took part in a conspiracy to "conceal the true manner in which Wright was shot to death" by falsely stating that one of the agents was in danger of being struck and killed by Wright's vehicle as Wright tried to escape. The suit also alleges a BNI agent called Wright several days before Wright's death to arrange the drug deal even though the agent "knew that Wright had not before engaged in selling cocaine." [MORE]

S.C. Troopers under investigation: No Prosecutions for White Troopers Using Excessive Force on Blacks

Two veteran prosecutors stand by their decisions not to charge white state troopers caught on videotape using force to subdue black motorists in separate incidents in 2006 and 2007.

In both cases — one man was poked at by a trooper with a shotgun in Orangeburg County and another fleeing on foot in Greenwood County was struck by a trooper driving a patrol car — the officers were disciplined, but solicitors said the troopers’ actions didn’t meet the legal standard needed to file criminal charges. Solicitor David Pascoe said he believed the Orangeburg trooper’s claim that the shotgun incident was an accident, noting, “There wasn’t, like, an angry moment.”

Solicitor Jerry Peace wrote off the Greenwood trooper’s statement — “I tried to hit him” — as “pure bravado.” Overzealous prosecution of officers could jeopardize troopers’ lives if it made them more hesitant than necessary to use force, said Peace, who last year handled a death penalty case in Abbeville involving two officers who were shot to death. “If I got a choice between a defendant getting his head cracked and an officer getting killed, I’ll take the defendant getting his head cracked every time.”

Some black lawmakers, however, wonder if the solicitors are part of what they see as a system that coddles troopers who use excessive force. “It’s despicable at best that these solicitors are covering up for these guys,” said state Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland, the Legislative Black Caucus chairman. “If you and I went out and hit somebody like that, you and I would be in jail.”

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Black Elected Leaders in NY Issue Statement on Sean Bell Verdict - say FBI will Review case

"We do not accept that this is the end of this case. We have joined with the families and their attorneys in filing a compliant with the U.S. Department of Justice requesting an investigation of violations of the civil rights of Sean Bell, Joseph Guzman, and Trent Benefield. Indeed, this afternoon the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it's Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New York Field Division will conduct an independent review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting of Sean Bell and two of his friends.

"Although we understand and share the frustration that many New Yorkers are feeling at this moment, we caution against giving into that frustration. Instead, we urge all who are disappointed with the decision to channel their energy into monitoring this review and utilizing their right to peaceful assembly to seek a redress of their grievances over today's decision.

Pictured above: People hold signs representing the number of bullets fired into the car of Sean Bell as they protest the outcome of the not guilty verdict in the case against three detectives of the Bell trial in New York City, April 26, 2008. 

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