And this thread, like all the others before it, will no doubt be locked-up for alleged "cop bashing", but here's a hint for the resident thought-police:
It ain't "COP BASHING" when everyone is being stonewalled BY the cops*, and all you want are some credible answers to hard questions so the truth can come out.
If you want to label THAT, well then, what THAT is is bullsh*t!
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/26/nyc.shooting.ap/index.html
NEW YORK (AP) -- A crowd angrily called on police Sunday to explain why authorities fatally shot a 23-year-old man on the day of his wedding, and some called for the ouster of the city's police commissioner.
At a vigil and rally, family members and friends chanted and prayed. Community leaders said they wanted to know why officers fired as many as 50rounds at an unarmed group Saturday as they left Sean Bell's bachelor party in a car.
"We cannot allow this to continue to happen," said black community leader, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been speaking for Bell's family since the shooting. "We've got to understand that all of us were in that car."
The civil rights advocate led the crowd in chants of "No justice, no peace." At times some in the crowd yelled that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly should be ousted. "Kelly must go!" people shouted. (Watch questions raised by groom's shooting )
The shootings occurred outside the Kalua Cabaret, a strip club where the bachelor party was held. The surviving victims were Joseph Guzman, 31, who was shot at least 11 times, and Trent Benefield, 23, who was hit three times. Both men are at Mary Immaculate Hospital, where Guzman was in critical condition and Benefield was stable.
Relatives of all three men -- many of them stoic, and some crying -- attended Sunday's vigil but none spoke publicly.
During a press conference Saturday, Kelly said the department was still piecing together what happened and that it was too early to say whether the shooting was justified.The officers' shots struck the men's car 21 times after the vehicle rammed into an undercover officer and hit an unmarked NYPD minivan. The wild gunfire hit nearby homes and shattered windows at a train station, though no residents were injured.
Police thought one of the men in the car might have had a gun. But investigators found no weapons. It was unclear what prompted police to open fire, Kelly said.Kelly said the incident stemmed from an undercover operation inside the strip club in the Jamaica section of the borough of Queens. Seven officers in plain clothes were investigating the Kalua Cabaret; five of them were involved in the shooting.
According to Kelly, the groom was involved in a verbal dispute outside the club after 4 a.m., and one of his friends made a reference to a gun.
An undercover officer walked closely behind Bell and his friends as they headed for their car. As he walked toward the front of the vehicle, they drove forward -- striking him and a nearby undercover police vehicle, Kelly said.
The officer who had followed the group on foot was apparently the first to open fire, Kelly said. That officer had served on the force for five years. One 12-year veteran fired his weapon 31 times, emptying two full magazines, Kelly said.
At some point, Bell, who was driving, backed his car up onto the sidewalk, hitting a building gate, authorities said. He then drove forward, striking the police vehicle a second time, Kelly said.
On Sunday, the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care said it is issuing a vote of no confidence in Kelly over the shooting.
A police spokeswoman on Sunday did not immediately comment on the group's demands.
In 1999, police killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who was shot 19 times in the Bronx. The four officers in that case were acquitted of criminal charges.
And in 2003, Ousmane Zongo, 43, a native of the western African country of Burkina Faso who repaired art and musical instruments in a Manhattan warehouse, was shot to death during a police raid. Zongo was hit four times, twice in the back.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
It ain't "COP BASHING" when everyone is being stonewalled BY the cops*, and all you want are some credible answers to hard questions so the truth can come out.
If you want to label THAT, well then, what THAT is is bullsh*t!
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/26/nyc.shooting.ap/index.html
NEW YORK (AP) -- A crowd angrily called on police Sunday to explain why authorities fatally shot a 23-year-old man on the day of his wedding, and some called for the ouster of the city's police commissioner.
At a vigil and rally, family members and friends chanted and prayed. Community leaders said they wanted to know why officers fired as many as 50rounds at an unarmed group Saturday as they left Sean Bell's bachelor party in a car.
"We cannot allow this to continue to happen," said black community leader, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been speaking for Bell's family since the shooting. "We've got to understand that all of us were in that car."
The civil rights advocate led the crowd in chants of "No justice, no peace." At times some in the crowd yelled that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly should be ousted. "Kelly must go!" people shouted. (Watch questions raised by groom's shooting )
The shootings occurred outside the Kalua Cabaret, a strip club where the bachelor party was held. The surviving victims were Joseph Guzman, 31, who was shot at least 11 times, and Trent Benefield, 23, who was hit three times. Both men are at Mary Immaculate Hospital, where Guzman was in critical condition and Benefield was stable.
Relatives of all three men -- many of them stoic, and some crying -- attended Sunday's vigil but none spoke publicly.
During a press conference Saturday, Kelly said the department was still piecing together what happened and that it was too early to say whether the shooting was justified.The officers' shots struck the men's car 21 times after the vehicle rammed into an undercover officer and hit an unmarked NYPD minivan. The wild gunfire hit nearby homes and shattered windows at a train station, though no residents were injured.
Police thought one of the men in the car might have had a gun. But investigators found no weapons. It was unclear what prompted police to open fire, Kelly said.Kelly said the incident stemmed from an undercover operation inside the strip club in the Jamaica section of the borough of Queens. Seven officers in plain clothes were investigating the Kalua Cabaret; five of them were involved in the shooting.
According to Kelly, the groom was involved in a verbal dispute outside the club after 4 a.m., and one of his friends made a reference to a gun.
An undercover officer walked closely behind Bell and his friends as they headed for their car. As he walked toward the front of the vehicle, they drove forward -- striking him and a nearby undercover police vehicle, Kelly said.
The officer who had followed the group on foot was apparently the first to open fire, Kelly said. That officer had served on the force for five years. One 12-year veteran fired his weapon 31 times, emptying two full magazines, Kelly said.
At some point, Bell, who was driving, backed his car up onto the sidewalk, hitting a building gate, authorities said. He then drove forward, striking the police vehicle a second time, Kelly said.
On Sunday, the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care said it is issuing a vote of no confidence in Kelly over the shooting.
A police spokeswoman on Sunday did not immediately comment on the group's demands.
In 1999, police killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who was shot 19 times in the Bronx. The four officers in that case were acquitted of criminal charges.
And in 2003, Ousmane Zongo, 43, a native of the western African country of Burkina Faso who repaired art and musical instruments in a Manhattan warehouse, was shot to death during a police raid. Zongo was hit four times, twice in the back.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
