New York police acquitted over wedding day shooting
New York police had been conducting an undercover operation at the club
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Friday, 25, Apr 2008 11:36
Three New York police officers have been acquitted of all charges in the case of an unarmed black man shot to death on his wedding day.
Sean Bell, 23, was killed in November 2006 after police opened fire on a car being driven by the bridegroom as he left a nightclub in Queens, New York, where he had been celebrating his stag night with friends.
Some 50 shots were fired by the officers, with 21 hitting the vehicle, killing Mr Bell and wounding two of his friends.
Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Iscora were today cleared of charges of manslaughter at a New York State supreme court while a third officer, Marc Cooper, was acquitted of reckless endangerment.
Detective Iscora said he had heard the victim and his friends arguing outside the Kalua club in the South Jamaica district of Queens at 04:00 local time when he had heard Bell's companion Joseph Guzman say: "Yo, go get my gun."
The detective, who fired 11 times, said he only commenced shooting when Bell reversed his vehicle, after he thought he had seen Guzman reach for a weapon, though no gun was ever found.
The case has provoked outrage in the New York black community with some state officials fearful of a similarly divisive reaction to today's verdict as to the acquittal of four officers charged with the shooting of unarmed Amadou Diallo in 1999.
State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman cleared the three officers accused in the shooting of Sean Bell as he said the charges could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums," Judge Cooperman was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.
Bell's fiancee Nicole Paultre Bell and the two men injured in the incident, Trent Benefield and Mr Guzman are believed to have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the city of New York, with the suit delayed until the conclusion of the criminal trial.