New Witness Emerges In NYC Groom Shooting

A last-minute, mystery witness testified Thursday before a grand jury that already had begun deliberating whether to charge five police officers in the death of an unarmed man on his wedding day.

The man testified for about an hour, a person familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury process, told The Associated Press.

The testimony came as the city anxiously awaited word on a decision by the grand jury on the fate of the five officers, who could face a range of charges in the Nov. 25 shooting that killed 23-year-old Sean Bell and wounded two of his friends.

The racial makeup of the 22-member grand jury, reports CBS News affiliate WCBS, is the following: eight are black, seven are white, four are Hispanic, two are Indian, one is Asian, and one was absent from the panel when the count was taken.

Grand jurors were instructed to consider the following charges, reports WCBS: second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide stemming from Bell's death; and attempted murder, assault or reckless endangerment in the wounding of Bell's two friends.

Detectives' Endowment Association President Michael Palladino said that the new witness was a 55-year-old man who spoke little English. He went to a police station on Wednesday to say he had been working on the night of the shooting near the strip club where it occurred. Palladino had been briefed on the situation by detectives at the police station.

The man told detectives he heard the crash of vehicles and ran out to see what was happening, Palladino said. The man said he saw a black male fire one or two shots at a police officer and then flee into a nearby building. The man told detectives that he also heard police officers identifying themselves as police, Palladino said.

"I don't know where this man came from," Palladino told the AP. "But this guy could have a vital piece of information. ... The man told detectives that he didn't come forward sooner because he was afraid and overwhelmed."

It is not known if the witness is considered credible, but his testimony could help the officers if he helps convince grand jurors that the police were justified in opening fire.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has acted as a spokesman for the family of Bell and the surviving victims, said at a news conference that there's something "suspect" about a witness having a change of heart and then suddenly turning up at a police station instead of going to the prosecutor.

"Who determines what is credible, reckless or not?" Sharpton asked, adding that such testimony could taint the grand jury process. "Did he mislead investigators then? Or is he misleading investigators now?"

"This story, as told, smells," Sharpton said in an interview with the AP. He added that he wanted the state attorney general to monitor the grand jury process.

An expert familiar with the grand jury system said it's up to the district attorney to decide whether new evidence is credible and important enough to cause the interruption of deliberations.

"It certainly is rare," said Stephen Scaring, a defense attorney and former chief of the homicide bureau for the Nassau County district attorney's office.

Typically, Scaring said, grand jurors who hear new evidence would then disregard their previous deliberations and start them from scratch.

The timing of the grand jury's decision was uncertain. But city officials were on alert, and extra police officers were put on standby in anticipation of the news.

The shooting that killed Bell and wounded his friends stirred outrage around New York, and officials were bracing for more of the same if the officers avoid charges. Bell was black, as are the other victims; three of the officers are black, and two are white.

The killing of Bell and the wounding of his bachelor party guests, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, raised questions about police tactics and prompted vigils and protests by civil rights activists.

Union representatives and lawyers for the officers have said their clients, who were conducting an undercover investigation at the strip club, became convinced Bell and his friends were going to retrieve a gun from a car parked around the corner after overhearing them argue with another patron. No gun was found.

The officers testified in ascending order, based on the number of bullets they fired: Detective Paul Headley fired one round, Officer Michael Carey fired three, Officer Marc Cooper fired four shots, and Officer Gescard Isnora fired 11 shots. Michael Oliver, who reloaded, fired 31 shots.