Witnesses: Chaos After Slaying Of NY Groom

Confusion Recounted In Police Testimony At Trial Of 50-Shot Killing Of Unarmed Man

(AP)  One undercover detective made a disjointed 911 call after the fatal gunfire erupted. Once the street went quiet, two other detectives claimed they couldn't remember how many shots they'd fired. Another went totally blank - even though he'd squeezed off 31 rounds.

The confusion was recounted Tuesday in police testimony at the trial of three officers charged in the killing of an unarmed groom-to-be in a hail of 50 police bullets fired toward his car. The trial was set to continue Wednesday.

Prosecutors played a tape of a 911 call made by Detective Hispolito Sanchez, a member of an undercover team dispatched to investigate reports of prostitution at a Queens strip club where Sean Bell was partying with friends in the wee hours of Nov. 25, 2006 - Bell's wedding day.

Sanchez, 36, testified that though he didn't see the shooting outside the club, he heard yelling followed by a crash and then gunfire. While ducking down, he called 911 for help, but had trouble giving the operator his location or a clear sense of what was happening.

"We've got two perps shot," he finally said at one point on the tape.

Another witness, Lt. Michael Wheeler, described responding to the emergency call and having two passengers in Bell's car, both seriously wounded, handcuffed as a precaution. After ordering undercover Detective Marc Cooper to lower his weapon, Cooper, who fired four rounds, acknowledged that "he did fire his weapon, but he did not know how many times," Wheeler said.

Gescard Isnora, who fired 11 rounds, and Detective Michael Oliver, who fired 31 rounds, also didn't remember, he said.

Oliver and Isnora face manslaughter charges at the closely watched case, now in its second week. Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment.

Prosecutors have portrayed the shooters as trigger-happy and poorly supervised. The defense contends the officers had witnessed Bell and his friends trade insults with a man who appeared to be armed, and became convinced they were going to Bell's car to get a gun.

The shooting, the officers also claim, began only after Isnora identified himself as a police officer and Bell, who was behind the wheel, nearly ran him over and smashed into one of the police cars. Another lieutenant testified last week that amid the confusion he believed his men were the ones under fire.

No weapon was found in the car.

[ramahan53]

I''ve become completely amazed at how the people accepting the story of these officers seem to gloss over the fact that the officers walked away from someone who was acting like he had a gun in his pocket and instead went after the men who walked away because they "might" have been going to get a gun. Is that what good police tactics call for? Leave a known armed belligerent on the street while you go see if maybe the guy who walked away will get one!

[ramahan53]

I''ve become completely amazed at how the people accepting the story of these officers seem to gloss over the fact that the officers walked away from someone who was acting like he had a gun in his pocket and instead went after the men who walked away because they "might" have been going to get a gun. Is that what good police tactics call for? Leave a known armed belligerent on the street while you go see if maybe the guy who walked away will get one!

[andyli1004]

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[keithle1]

In the black community, the police are always wrong/guilty/the devil incarnate & the black man is a boy scout on his way to drop off books at the library.

[pfd572]

DaVicar2: Hey, numb nuts, stay out of the crossfire when ill-trained, panicked police officers start firing in your direction.

[pfd572]

Check previous reports. All other witnesses, including ppl who had no connection to the victims, stated they did not hear anyone identify themselves as police officers. They had no agenda to lie. Not saying officers are guilty, but there are huge differences between officer statements and witness statements.