Bell's Family: Cops Should Be Accountable

Sean Bell's family is vowing to continue its fight to have someone held accountable for his death.

The statement comes a day after a judge acquitted the police detectives who killed the unarmed 23-year-old and wounded two of his friends the morning of his wedding. Bell's two friends were also wounded in the shooting, which occurred outside of a Queens strip club, the site of an impromptu bachelor party.

"I'm still praying for justice because its not over, its far from over," Bell's fiance, Nicole Paultre Bell told the CBS Evening News.

Legal experts say Bell's family faces an uphill fight in their attempt to have the officers charged with federal civil rights violations, and might have to settle for attacking them in civil court, where the city, not the officers, would be responsible for paying off any multimillion-dollar verdict.

New York has a long history of multimillion-dollar payouts as a result of civil lawsuits brought by the families of men and women slain or beaten by police, including many settlements in cases where the officers were acquitted of criminal responsibility.

Violent cases like these aren't contained to New York City, and a 2004 study points out that blacks are six times more likely than whites to be shot by police, reports CBS News Correspondent Priya David.

In 2005, New Orleans police officers fired six times, killing a mentally disturbed man armed with a knife. Last year in Oakland, Calif., witnesses say an armed 20-year-old Gary King Jr. was running away when a police officer shot him in the back.

As for the New York police officers acquitted in the Sean Bell case, it's not over for them. The FBI and the department of justice are now stepping in to investigate if the officers violated bell's federal civil rights.

[rhs648]

They didn''''t and there were witnesses...

Posted by jh6379

That is something we can''t easily prove. Eyewitness destimony has be shown to be inaccurate over and over again. The police officers themselves saw and heard different things. The witnesses could not agree on what they saw and heard. These things happen in seconds. Neither the police nor the victims had much time to think and react. One disadvantage we posters have is that we were not in the courtroom to hear testimony. We rely on what we see in newspapers, on radion, and on television, and hear from other people. Sound bites are not a good substitute for courtroom testimony and evidence presented.

[ranger1948]

brianbwb
I was thinking about your comment of me supporting police because of my police background and it is correct. Then i thought about what you said with you being black and having grown up in the black neighborhoods, you have a different perspective about how things look and happen. Again i have to agree with you. My hope is we can get people like you and i working together to solve this racial issue and make this a great country again. Being of different opinions doesn''t mean we are wrong only different in thought and perception.

[facts6]

"""It''''s called survival of the fittest. Poor people are poor because they''''re STUPID! They''''re going to get weeded out first. It''''s inevitable."""

More of ''em and they are always victims; usually of back injuries.

[ranger1948]

brianbwThank you for supporting me. I get called a racist a lot on here but i try to look at everything in a factual manner. Since none of us were there we cannot second guess why anyone did what they did. I have to believe the judge did have all the facts to make his ruling. I really hope that he did. Yhis wasn''t a racial incident but was tragic. If the victims had been white i would have responded the same way. I try to follow logic and when you are personally involved you know logic goes out the window. I hope internal affairs does investigate this case rthoroughly. Al Sharpton will only cause problems like he always does. I have no respect for him as he only shows up when he can make a profit on a situation, ising someones grief.

[ranger1948]

brianbwb
You have some very good points but it is a little onesided. the black population of this country is 13%. And yet blacks commit 60% of the crimes in the country. That is why there are more blacks in prison than whites. This was statistics given to me in college by my law professor. The black communities need to step up and tell the criminals in their areas they are not going to put up with them anymore, then when there is a crime be willing to be a witness. Get the bad element out of the neighborhood so that good black people can enjoy the lives they have worked so hard for.

[carlylaine]

Just because they were acquited doesn''t make them less guilty to me.

So some of you are sick and tired of people bad mouthing the cops. Well, I get sick and tired of of hearing about UNARMED citizens loosing their lives with a barage of bullets....fifty is excessive and over-kill.

Gott! if we citizens protect our life from maniacs by shooting the perp and get a little excessive in our protection the PROSECUTION hangs us for the over-kill.

Someone is voting for the police for our POLICE STATEs. I think you''re all wrong...There is fear against the government on issues such as this. We shouldn''t have to fear the government and that was never the intent..READ THOMAS JEFFERSON..the government should fear us.

[vmcneal2]

AND IF HE WAS JUST MARRIED, WHY WAS HE AT AT STRIP CLUB THE SAME DAY???????????????????Nobody owes the black person anything....


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Posted by dinodavid220 at 01:57 AM : Apr 28, 2008

dinodavid220...I agree, nobody owes a Black person anything and that includes a hail of bullets for no reason.

[vmcneal2]

Sorry....they are stupied...and they are lazy......90 percent of them anyway..trust me i work for the state........



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Posted by dinodavid220 at 02:00 AM

I don''t think I would be calling other people stupid If I were you!!!!

[ahrats]

These police officers now have to live the rest of their lives knowing the accidently killed an unarmed man. Yes 50 shots at someone is very excessive, but the courts found them innocent. I''m sure the suspects did not know they were theating a police officer saying they had weapons but the police shot first and asked questions later. I''m sure the city of N.Y. will pay the victums family millions of dollars after the civil court battle. Those police officers still have to live with themselves. I do not belive this was racially motivated just some scared people with badges probally in a high crime area and wanted to go home after their shift was over in stead of the hospital or morgue. We are not perfect, we make mistakes, sometimes fatially, but it took two parties to make this happen, do not bragg you have a gun when you don''t because for they (police)know you might attemp to us it in a drive by while your are leaving the area. The police should hasve identified the victum of their identity and may this would not have happened.

[messiahx4eve]

Everyone in this article is or should be held accountable. Legislating human behavior is not going to happen anytime soon. Bell acted inappropriate, so did the police, so in comes Uncle Al, the racist pal, and anyone else that is desperate for their 15 minutes to see what they can stir up. As far as Blacks and this slavery C*R*A*P goes, YOU ALL ARE RESPONISBLE FOR SELLING YOUR OWN IN TRIBAL CONQUESTS. YOU SCREWED UP NOW GET OVER IT, DON''T LOOK FOR OTHERS TO PAY YOUR DEBTS TO YOURSELVES. Your "someone owes me" attitude reeks. Any real BLACK American knows this, the rest of you just need to get your collective heads out of your collective rumps and breathe some fresh air and get over it.