NEWS

Rev. Al Sharpton arrested at Brooklyn Bridge protest

By Associated Press
Thursday, May 8, 2008

NEW YORK - The Rev. Al Sharpton was arrested at the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday as hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic to protest the acquittals of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of an unarmed black man.

Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting and the slain man’s fiancee were among about a dozen people arrested near the base of the bridge while police led away demonstrators at several other bridges and tunnels in the city.

The protests were part of a coordinated campaign to urge federal authorities to investigate the November 2006 shooting of Sean Bell.

Three officers were acquitted of state charges last month.

Sharpton and other protesters lined up and peacefully put their hands behind their backs as police put plastic handcuffs on them.

Sharpton is seeking a federal civil rights probe into Bell’s shooting outside a Queens nightclub.The case raised questions about police use of deadly force in minority neighborhoods.

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Apr 25 2008 11:47 AM EDT

Sean Bell Shooting Case -- Referenced In Songs By 50 Cent, Papoose -- Ends In Acquittal Of Three New York Police Detectives

Mood outside the Queens courtroom is upset, but still calm.

By Gil Kaufman

The scene outside the New York courtroom was tense but peaceful Friday morning, as a judge declared three police detectives not guilty of manslaughter, assault or reckless endangerment in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who was killed outside a strip club in New York in 2006 in a barrage of 50 bullets.

The verdict prompted a number of Bell's supporters to storm out of the courtroom, with screams audible outside the chambers moments later, according to The New York Times. Outside the courtroom, thousands more supporters of Bell — who was 23 years old when he was gunned down just hours before he was to marry — gathered, shouting and taunting police, who were out in force in case any violent protests broke out.

Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, and his parents were in the courtroom when the verdict was read in the case, which became a flashpoint for the city and many in the hip-hop community, including 50 Cent, Papoose and Prodigy — all of whom recorded songs or wrote lyrics about the shooting. After the incident, Nas released a statement to MTV News, saying, "The cops need to be charged the way gangsters are charged."

As the judge read his decision, CNN reported that Paultre Bell ran from the courtroom saying, "I've got to get out of here."

After a seven-week trial, Justice Arthur J. Cooperman said that many of the prosecution's witnesses, including Bell's friends and the two wounded victims, were simply not believable. "The testimony of those witnesses just didn't make sense," he said, adding that some of the witnesses contradicted themselves and that their demeanor on the witness stand helped to decide the case, CNN reported.

After reading through the timeline of the evening, Cooperman concluded that the response by Detectives Gescard F. Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper, "with respect to each defendant, was not found to be criminal." The men were found not guilty of the eight counts — five felonies and three misdemeanors— they were facing. Among other charges, Isnora and Oliver had faced first- and second-degree manslaughter, with a possible sentence of 25 years in prison. Cooper was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment. According to the Times, they could still face disciplinary action from the police department, though a decision on that will be delayed until it is decided whether federal charges will be filed against them.

The prosecution attempted to show that the shooting was the result of a frightened, possibly enraged group of disorganized police officers who began their shift that night hoping to arrest a prostitute or two at the club, which was being investigated for prostitution, guns and drug dealing. Suspecting Bell and his friends of possessing a gun, the prosecution said the detectives quickly got in over their heads.

The defense portrayed the shooting as the tragic end to a justified confrontation in which Isnora had what his lawyers described as solid reasons to believe he was "the only thing standing between Mr. Bell's car and a drive-by shooting around the corner." Witnesses claimed to have heard talk of guns during a heated argument between an intoxicated Bell and a stranger outside the club. And witnesses said that as Bell and his friends left the club, the undercover detectives believed that one of the men was going to retrieve a gun from Bell's car, so they followed the men and called for backup.

According to testimony, Bell and two friends got in the car, with Bell driving, and the detectives drew their weapons. Bell panicked to get away from what he believed were armed men. The detectives, who said they thought Bell was trying to run them over and that their lives were in danger, began firing. No gun was found near Bell or his friends.

Once word of the verdict leaked out to the crowds gathered outside the courtroom, CNN reported that one woman shouted at a black police officer, "How can you be proud to wear that uniform? Stand down! Stop working for the masters!"

The case drew immediate response from the hip-hop community, with Papoose dropping a song just a week after the shooting titled "50 Shots," which sampled Sam Cooke's anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come" and featured the lines, "Mike Oliver said his gun jammed, he the main one/ 12-year veteran and don't know how to use a gun." Paultre Bell was featured in a controversial ad from Rocawear as part of their "I Will Not Lose" campaign, which launched just before the trial began. In addition, 50 Cent has referenced the case on cuts, and Prodigy also has several references to Bell on his just released album, HNIC2, on a track titled "Field Marshall P."

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Shooting victim Trent Benefield testifies in Sean Bell case

By NICOLE BODE and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Monday, March 31st 2008, 5:05 PM

A pal of Sean Bell's said Monday he covered his eyes just before police opened fire with a 50-bullet barrage that left the groom dead on his wedding day.

Testifying for the first time at the trial of three detectives on trial for killing Bell, Trent Benefield said moments before he was sitting in the back seat of his slain friend's car when a "dark skinned" man suddenly appeared.

"He was in the front of the car, closer to the passenger side," Benefield said. "He had a gun pointed towards us. He had it pointed at the car. He had it pointed toward 'S'."

Benefield, who was badly wounded in the shooting, said he didn't recognize the man, whom prosecutors have identified at Det. Gescard Isnora. He said he did not see any police badges displayed.

"Joe told 'S' to go, drive," Benefield said, refering to Joseph Guzman and using his nickname for Bell. "He started to drive, I felt a collision ... I covered my face like this."

And as a packed Queens courtroom looked on, Benefield balled his fists and held his forearms in front of his face.

"I heard shots," he continued. "I felt myself get shot. My two calves, both. I opened the door and jumped out on the drivers side. I started running."

Benefield said he didn't get far.

"I got shot again, my right thigh, I fell to the ground," he said. "When I looked up, I saw a man walking up to me. He was tall, heavyset, dark-skinned guy. I was on the sidewalk."

Benefield said the man told him to "stay down."

"I told him I didn't do nothing," he said. "I'd been shot."

Benefield insisted he didn't realize the man was a police officer, not even after he was "handcuffed behind my back." He said, "Please don't shoot me. I got nothin' to do with nothin.'"

Benefield also admitted that he'd had three potent Long Island ice teas at the strip joint where Bell had just had his bachelor party - and that he had smoked pot every day for the past six years.

Benefield recounted his tale at the tense trial of detectives Michael Oliver, Marc Cooper and Isnora, who were part of an undercover unit that was doing a prostitution sting at the Kalua Cabaret when Bell was killed on Nov. 25, 2006.

Prosecutors have called them a trigger-happy trio who opened fire on the unarmed men without identifying themselves as cops.

The defense contends the tragic series of events that ended with Bell's death began when he got into a argument with a man named Fabio Coicou outside the club. They said the detectives fired on Bell's car after he rammed Isnora - and because they believed someone inside was reaching for a gun. No gun was found.

His hair in braids and dressed in a pin-striped suit, Benefield said that when he emerged from the club, he saw Guzman talking with Coicou but did not witness Coicou's argument with Bell.

"He said he's from Far Rock and Joe said, 'I'm from Far Rock too," Benefield said, referring to Far Rockaway.

Benefield said Coicou had his hands in his pockets and he thought he might have a gun. But he denied defense claims that Guzman threatened to go get a gun to settle a score with Coicou.

Benefield said that once the shooting started, "it just kept going. It was continuous." He said that as he lay wounded, one of his buddies slipped him a cell phone so he could talk with his mother.

"My two calves, both," Benefield said when asked to describe his injuries. "I got a rod in my left leg from the knee to the ankle.'

Benefield is suing the city for $50 million in damages.

Guzman, who was hit by 19 shots and still walks with a cane, is expected to testify later in the trial.
Isnora and Oliver are charged with manslaughter. Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment.

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Barack Obama just finished a major speech on race in America and building a more perfect union.
You should see it and read it for yourself. Here's the video and full text:

http://my.barackoba ma.com/hisownwor ds

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ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA SORORITY, INC. DENOUNCES

AND REJECTS GERALDINE FERRARO'S STATEMENT

Chicago, Illinois - March 12, 2008 - Barbara A. McKinzie, Alpha Kappa Alpha's international president, today assailed Geraldine Ferraro for dismissing Senator Barack Obama's popularity as due to his being lucky for being black; rather than because of his experience and message of hope that is resonating with the country.

AKA's international president said Ferraro's "outrageous" statement was race based and inflammatory. She said the Sorority "denounces and rejects" her words and the spirit behind them.

"What is particularly offensive is how Ferraro condescendingly dismisses Senator Obama's candidacy as a 'concept' that the country is caught up in. In trivializing his candidacy as luck-based and race-based, she fails to take into account his experience, impressive credentials and the inspirational figure that he is. Senator Obama has energized the nation with his vow to rise above the type of petty politics that has resulted in America being in the state that it currently finds itself. This is not luck. It is competence and an ability to capitalize on his strong background and on the mood of this country, which desires change!"

Continued McKinzie, "While Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority cannot endorse candidates, the organization supports the uplifting message that Senator Obama is espousing that is exciting the nation - and the world!"

McKinzie added that Ferraro's assertion was rife with contradictions. Observed McKinzie, "Ms. Ferraro also sated that 'if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position, '" However, McKinzie noted, "Senator Clinton is a woman in the race so, she is clearly contradicting herself."

"No one is entitled by birthright nor by any other reason to lay claim to the presidency," declared McKinzie.

McKinzie urged the Sorority's 200,000 members - and all fair-minded citizens - to reject Ms. Ferraro's characterizations and to stay focused on bigger issues that are afflicting the nation. She added that Alpha Kappa Alpha's current ESP program focuses on economics and stressed that the country needs to be centered on this issue.

"As an organization we will educate our members about the importance of staying on message about what the country really needs. In the next few months, we will intensify our effort to educate our members on the candidates' positions on economics. This will be the litmus test for our members regardless of the candidate's gender, race or political persuasion. "

Emphasizing that point, McKinzie said, "The fragile state of America's economic state threatens the viability of this nation. This needs to be front and center on everyone's minds - not petty, ridiculous, divisive and outrageous statements."