The Sean Bell Verdict and Al Sharpton’s Culture of Grievance
Incidents like the Sean Bell shooting are "awful but lawful" — but the post-verdict antics of Al Sharpton and his acolytes will only inhibit police efforts to help crime-ridden neighborhoods.
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To anyone who knew the facts of the case and understood the law, Friday’s acquittal of the three New York Police Department detectives charged in the November 2006 shooting death of Sean Bell was entirely predictable.
Just as predictable has been the reaction from Al Sharpton, who owes his notoriety - and, one presumes, his income - to the culture of grievance from which he sprang and which he so tirelessly strives to perpetuate. On Saturday, Sharpton presided over a rally at his Harlem headquarters and exhorted his followers to “close down” the city of New York. “This city,” he said, “is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell.”
And so it may, but perhaps not in the way Mr. Sharpton would wish.
Regardless of a given criminal trial’s underlying social and political issues - and seldom has there been a trial more heavily freighted with such issues than this one - the burden of proof remains unchanged: the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty that the defendant is guilty of the crimes alleged against him. All extraneous questions on crime, the police, race, and their respective places in the great social equation have no rightful place in a criminal courtroom.
But these questions do at times creep silently into the courtroom, more particularly into the jury room of a high-profile trial, where some might wish to see cosmic justice produced therefrom. Some jurors have been known to oblige that wish, engaging in jury nullification in the case of some clearly guilty defendants or, even more disturbing, convicting some clearly innocent ones. The three police detectives on trial in the Sean Bell shooting, Gescard Isnora, Marc Cooper, and Michael Oliver, knew this very well when they asked that their case be heard by a judge rather than a jury, placing their fate in the hands of Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman.
Reasonable doubt was to be found everywhere in the case, beginning with the Queens grand jury’s initial indictment handed down in March 2007. Much has been made of the fifty shots fired by the police during the confrontation, twenty of which struck the car Bell was driving, killing him and wounding his two passengers. But of the five officers who fired, only three were indicted and put on trial, suggesting that even the grand jury believed that in the confusion of the encounter on that early morning there was at least some level of justification for the other two to fire their weapons. And if those two had reason to fire, however tragically mistaken it turned out to be, how is it that the defendants’ conduct rose to the level that made it criminal? It didn’t, as Justice Cooperman ruled on Friday.
The prosecution’s efforts were undone by several factors, which Justice Cooperman specified in his verdict. “The court has found,” he said, “that the people’s ability to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt was affected by a combination of the following factors: the prosecution witnesses’ prior inconsistent statements, inconsistencies in testimony among prosecution witnesses, the renunciation of prior statements, criminal convictions, the interest of some witnesses in the outcome of the case, the demeanor on the witness stand of other witnesses and the motive witnesses may have had to lie and the effect it had on the truthfulness of a witness’s testimony. These factors played a significant part in the people’s ability to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and had the effect of eviscerating the credibility of those prosecution witnesses. And, at times, the testimony just didn’t make sense.”
The defendants, Justice Cooperman concluded, reasonably, albeit mistakenly, believed that an armed confrontation was about to take place between Sean Bell and his companions and another group of men that had just left a strip club. “The court has found that the incident lasted just seconds,” Cooperman said. “The officers responded to perceived criminal conduct; the unfortunate consequences of their conduct were tragic.”
Here in Los Angeles there is a term used around the courthouse to describe incidents like the Sean Bell shooting: “awful but lawful.”
Fortunately for some Los Angeles Police Department officers, L.A. County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who is unburdened by ambition for higher office, has shown a willingness to stand up to the kind of pressure Al Sharpton and others exerted on prosecutors in Queens after the Sean Bell shooting. When, for example, “community activists” demanded that an LAPD officer be prosecuted in the 2005 shooting death of 13-year-old Devin Brown at the end of an early morning car chase, Cooley’s office declined to do so, thoroughly explaining the decision in a lengthy document posted on the agency’s website.
Surely the prosecutors in the Sean Bell case knew the weaknesses of their case, weaknesses that they might easily have detailed for the public had they chosen not to take the case to a grand jury. But the peculiar politics of New York demanded otherwise, and three police detectives were forced to endure a trial that the prosecutors knew - or should have known - they could not win.
And now Mr. Sharpton and his acolytes are threatening to shut down New York City, hoping to portray the NYPD as the biggest threat facing the residents in Queens, Brooklyn, Harlem, and the other less fashionable neighborhoods that lie north of 96th Street or beyond the East River. In those neighborhoods, Mr. Sharpton would have you believe, the only guns and drugs to be found are those that have been planted on innocent people by corrupt, racist police officers.
Sharpton’s antics, blithely acquiesced to by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, and the entire New York City political structure, will only inhibit police efforts to improve the quality of life in those neighborhoods most affected by crime. When the next murder victim falls in Queens, Brooklyn, or Harlem, will Al Sharpton be too busy to notice?
Twenty people have been murdered so far this year in the NYPD’s Queens South Patrol Bureau, where the Sean Bell shooting occurred, up from twelve at the same time in 2007. When Mr. Sharpton has finished shutting down the city this week, perhaps he might summon up a similar level of outrage at the fate of even one of those twenty people.
“Jack Dunphy” is the pseudonym of an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. The opinions expressed are his own and almost certainly do not reflect those of the LAPD management.
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32 Comments
Jocelyn:Every time Al Sharpton opens his mouth, he should be asked if he is prepared to recant and apologize for his part in the Tawana Brawley near-miscarriage of justice. Shut down the city over THAT.
Apr 27, 2008 - 6:06 am Mommynator:And Bell’s “fiance” is whining to keep protesting until “justice” is done.
Dear fiance:
It is not the NYPD’s or NYC’s fault that you chose your potential mate so poorly.
It is not the NYPD’s or NYC’s fault that your “fiance” did not respect you enough to marry you BEFORE you had children.
It is not the NYPD’s or NYC’s fault that your “fiance” went on a drunke binge at a strip club (thereby disrespecting you and your child).
It is not the NYPD’s or NYC’s fault that your “fiance” and his friends were talking about guns and threatening people with guns whether they were in their possession or not. They threatened peoples’ lives.
You are going to have to live the rest of your life with your poor choices. It is a shame that your “fiance” was killed, but he should have acted more responsibly. You cannot place that on anyone else but Mr. Bell.
Please - enough with the outrage. Be outraged with yourself and the father of your child.
And keep Mr. Sharpton out of it. He is a joke and is making your “tragedy” into a joke.
Apr 27, 2008 - 9:09 am Roark:The pathetic thing is that the majority of the black population sympathize with this fool. Until the black ‘culture’ embraces men like Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, and Larry Elder, then they will continue to play into the hands of the racist/opportunists like Sharpton and his victim mentality ilk.
Apr 27, 2008 - 9:11 am Increase Mather:Sharpton is a disgrace to the black race. Wasn’t he Tom Wolfe’s basis for the character in BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES who hounds whites into social submission?
As long as the media and the black community give this guy his due by embracing his causes these kids of lynchmobs will continue.
Doesn’t he owe those white kids in North Carolina an apology, or has everyone forgotten about that?
Apr 27, 2008 - 10:22 am Webutante:Let’s not forget either that Sean Bell was legally drunk when the shooting happened with three of the five police officers involved in the incident being black.
Apr 27, 2008 - 10:59 am KFC Haterade:We should shut down all KFC’s, all discount cigarettes and liqour stores, all “hot wing” and sidewalk window cleaners, round up any one panhandling in that area and lock ‘em up.. make it a real protest..
” We gonna protest”.. and do nothing.. .what else in new.. maybe the “Gubmint” should protest and not deliver any welfare checks , food stamp cards, or WIC vouchers also..
Apr 27, 2008 - 11:11 am Fmark:It is becoming all to common for white America to be LYNCHED by these “Hate Whitie” leaders in the Black America and the accomodating politicans. Look at what happened in Durhan NC for white America to see that politicans enable these hate white groups to LYNCH WHITE AMERICAN again and again. Our politicans and the black church and black hate organizers only survive if we continue to react to these lies. Stop!!! I have had enough about what happened 60 to 100 years old. I have had enough of watching American schools became third rate. I have had enought of the crime and killing in our City Streets. I have had enough of being called a racist when it is the black community that filters everyday of their lifes looking for opportunities to LYNCH whites. That is where the hate is today — in black America. Verification… go watch Rev Wright leading his church on Sunday with hate in his heart and LYNCHING on his mind. I say to reasonable white Americans, stop listening to these rasist, these people who hate you, these people who would LYNCH you in a heart beat. Open your eyes, look at the world we live in now. Listenig and accomodating these race haters have destoryed our country… its time to get our country back to its core values. Its is how you live, its what you do every day, its your values of family and community that shapes how the country surives. Sean Bell is represents all that is wrong with our community and we are better now that his gone.
Apr 27, 2008 - 11:31 am cholo:You racist white motherfuckers. No matter what he did in the past, nobody should get shot down like that. I hope you motherfuckers get killed tonight.
Apr 27, 2008 - 1:00 pm cholo:Al Sharpton does not represent all black people. He is a attention seeker. For those cops to get off scott free is a disgrace to any citizen. I hope you or your spouse gets murdered and we will see your reaction. I hope the police put a hundred shots up there ass.
Apr 27, 2008 - 1:04 pm Charles Vairin:In the last ten years, a white guy leaving a night club in down Denver was shot an number of time and killed. The cops were acquitted as you might expect. It seems to me that people who collude to have public violence should see the inside of a jail even before there is any violence. Why isn’t Sharpton in jail?
Apr 27, 2008 - 1:31 pm RS LaRue:If people want to support criminal behavior and criminal life styles then bad things might happen in their lives. Support social responsible behaviors and odds are very small something like this will occur to innocence. Sounds like the victims were living high risk life styles. Seems like their supporters think this life stye is okay and should be risk free. Never was and never will no matter who you happen to be.
Apr 27, 2008 - 3:20 pm Park Slope Pubby:I have lived in NYC for 58 years, and I absolutely knew that Al Sharpton’s call for riots would be ineffective. People across the US may not realize it, but the blacks in this city are a hard working group of people. They are very different than those in Detroit or LA. We didn’t have riots after the Rodney King verdict either.
In a lot of ways, this is not a very liberal city, and there is relatively little sympathy for black grievances. So the blacks pull up their boots and go to work. Everybody’s happier that way. There will never be riots over this verdict. Sorry, Sharpton.
Apr 27, 2008 - 5:24 pm Bill N:Cholo:
Apr 27, 2008 - 6:43 pm Cholo's a Retard:Let me get this straight: A black man who claims to have a gun and is threatening others does not deserve to be killed but a white man merely exercising his constitutional right to express a contrary opinion does? And you call me a racist!
Just what have you accomplished by your foul-mouthed, ignorant rant? You have given me cause to fear you because you have wished me dead. Since I don’t know you, have you not given me cause to fear all black people since one of them might be you? And don’t we come to hate those whom we fear? Therefore, haven’t you done all you can to escalate racial hatred? Of course you have. Shame on you!
Wow, Cholo. Nice comments. Was there a link to this story on dailykos.com or something? Your erudition and grammatical skills are dazzling. I would not want to meet up with you in a logic battle, unless of course, I took out my own brain so we could start even.
Did you not read the article? What would you have had the police do? Let Bell and his pals shoot up other blacks on their own? I guess reasonable doubt is only something you apply to folks of any color except white. Who’s the racist now?
BTW, I’m in NYC today, and no signs of slowdown in sight. I think people of every color (except for the 100 people who where protesting with Sharpton yesterday for the cameras) are smart enough to realize exactly what the judge did, which was that justice was done. Not always pretty, but it’s justice.
Apr 28, 2008 - 8:22 am esgeness:While I won’t argue with anyone that Al Sharpton is a blatant opportunist and I do think it’s important to uphold the decisions of the court, the fact that SO MANY shots were fired raises a red flag in my mind. It may not be a race issue (especially given the fact that some of the officers were black) but it does raise the concern that police officers (especially after having been given unconditional support by the Giuliani administration) may be a little trigger happy. And black or white, that’s scary.
Apr 28, 2008 - 8:52 am WOW:All I can say is WOW!!! I was baffled at how someone could justify themselves in shooting anyone/thing so many times, and wanted to see what others had to say, and I must say I am astonished. Regardless of what either parties race was, wrong is wrong. It also amazes me at who others can damn those just becayse we choose not to lead the lives you live. So what he chose to have a baby before he got married and went to a strip club. It does not change the fact that he was a man. And for the retards who choose to believe everything that is written, why would someone tell someone to go get a gun that they dont have. For decades, local, state, and federal government have maniupulated stories to get you to believe what they want you to, and I see once again they were successful. I can’t say that I was surprised that they got off, I just think it’s sad that I have come to accept it as a way of life. Us against them. But as a black woman, it was interesting to see what those of the other persuasion had to say about my race. And you want us to believe that racism is only in our minds. No it’s here on this website!!!
Apr 28, 2008 - 9:27 am Heather:So what he chose to have a baby before he got married and went to a strip club. It does not change the fact that he was a man.
No, it doesn’t. But if he’d stayed his ass home with that baby, he’d still be with his family today, and $harpton would have to find someone else to exploit.
I’m not sure why that’s so hard to understand.
Apr 28, 2008 - 11:34 am esgeness:I have to agree with WOW.
“if he’d stayed his ass home with that baby, he’d still be with his family today.” Come on!
Talk about blaming the victim. This argument is as substantial as someone saying ‘well if he hadn’t gone to see that awful movie, he wouldn’t have been hit by that truck’! What kind of logic is that? You’re all acting as though the man deserved to die for having fathered a child before getting married and having gone to a strip club. While you Puritans might not approve of that sort of behavior I hardly think it merits the death penalty.
Apr 28, 2008 - 1:13 pm JohnMc:esgeness
It’s not so much that they are trigger happy, but that they are such poor shots. I shoot competitively, and what cops there are who compete in this sports, most are average shots at best. The average cop rarely cleans his gun, much less practices with it.
That Sharpton still has a platform so many years after the Tawana Brawley hoax is an everlasting disgrace to the black community and a shameful example of how little they have advanced over the past 40 years.
Apr 28, 2008 - 1:48 pm SPQR:The number of shots fired have absolutely nothing to do with the legitimacy of the shooting. Where do people get the silly idea that the number of shots is somehow evidence of whether or not a single shot should have been fired? Its a stupid argument.
Apr 28, 2008 - 7:45 pm Night Owl:I think SPQR is right, based on what I’ve heard from people who know cops. (If I’m misrepresenting facts by making the following statement, I apologize.)
What I’ve heard is that the decision too fire is not made easily, but once the decision is made that lethal force is required, they are trained to take the person down. Thus one bullet vs 100 doesn’t matter. What matters is why the FIRST bullet was deemed necessary. I don’t know why the decision to use lethal force was made, so I will refrain from passing judgment on it.
That this mistake was made is indeed unsettling (to say the least). When I read some of the details of the case, that an undercover cop approached the car with his gun drawn, it made me shudder. I thought to myself, in that situation if I didn’t know the guy was a cop, I too might try to run him down, and end up with bullets in my face. (I don’t know if Bell knew the man was a cop; if he did, then he made a tragically stupid decision to try to run him down.)
Scary. I don’t think it was racial, but it was tragic. And Sharpton is a clown who would be funny, if he wasn’t so damaging to race relations in this country.
Apr 30, 2008 - 10:09 am Bill:You’re an idiot. Hooligan renegede cops are not the answer. Rev. Sharpton does us all a service protesting this outrage. The judge showed a total lack of common sense. 30 bullets fired by one officer who took time to reload and kill an unarmed man is clear evidence of wrong doing. This verdict is a travesty unleashing cops to prey upon citizens. Shame on you for published such idiotic, fascist police state justifications.
Apr 30, 2008 - 9:35 pm Sheila:“Rev Sharpton does us all a service by protesting this outrage”
Oh my God Bill. Thank you so much for making my day. Yours is possibly the funniest post I have ever read.
May 1, 2008 - 5:27 am Ramon510:It’s idiots like most of the people who wrote comments here that vote for Bush, believe the world is a few thousand years old, think the troops are fighting for are freedom, think that it’s ok that the average troop makes less than $30,000 a year and the oil contractor’s employees make $14,000 a month, and think that black people and native americans should just get over it. They probably still think the world is flat.
May 1, 2008 - 9:13 pm DONNY:Let’s put things in proper perspective. It is never a good thing when a cop kills a civilian. However it is not a good thing either, when a civillian kills a cop. Police have a tremendous burden in deciding at a moments notice whether they or someone else should live or die. It is a balancing act that is second to none. In the case of Sean Bell, had Mr. Bell simply kept his vehicle in park, placed his hands in the air and complied with the officers orders, he no doubt would be alive today. He chose to follow the ways of the streets, from whence he got his training. He chose to risk his life by jeopardizing the lives of the officers. These officers could not determine what was in the mind of Mr. Bell, only that he had a weapon that he was using against him, that being his car. As for Al Sharpton and the other so called “black Leaders”, they should start marching and shutting down the cities where so many of our “black” people our being killed by other blacks. 14,000 murders are committed in this country every year, half of the victims are black. Blacks make up only 13% of the population. I guess Sharpton and his croonies would rather deal with the headache rather than the cancer. Oh well another dollar in Sharpton’s pocket, so that he can live in that all white neighborhood that he is always protesting against. By the way to all the white liberal elitist, please stop telling us who are leaders are. I’ll decide who my leader is. Thank you.
May 7, 2008 - 5:20 am D757:I can’t stand how everyone against this ruling writes as if Sean took all 50 shots and that is just not true. There were “50 SHOTS FIRED” and some were misses, some hit his friends and some hit Sean. The officers were set free because his friends stories didn’t match. When that happens, you know one of them is lieing if not both. It’s not a racial situation. Having a criminal record is like having a bad credit score. It shows where your priorities are. When someone is acting like a fool in public, talking about beating people up, saying, “get my gun” and trying to run over an officer… bad things are going to happen. Those actions are not a good time, nor are they acceptible. It’s as acceptible as walking into an airport and talking about the bomb in your bag. I’ve had to give that lecture to my daughters boyfriend several times and this is a good example of what I’ve been preaching. Officers put their lives on the line every day to keep everyone safe. They are condemned when they accomplish something and the are condemned if they fail. God bless them all!
May 8, 2008 - 8:48 am sad day:I am a black man. I know the officers didn’t murder Sean. but there is a percieved threat when it comes to black men and women. I was born in a small town where people black and white live well together. so I love all people. but it is sad to read some of the comments here. I can’t help but notice some people blaming the victim and looking for reasons to hate. its not about 100 years ago its about now. blacks need to realize there is a different set of rules for them and there always has been. whites get the benefit of doubt regardless. I don’t hate my friends for that but its true and they know it, and they admit it and more. if Al sharpton doesn’t speak up who should ” Wayne Brady”? you would like that wouldn’t you. Why is it racist to point out the bias. Don’t blame his culture for his death its the people who feared his culture who killed him….. fear me please Im scared of you. Your the teacher, Dr., cop with twisted onesided views. I love my country but I don’t gotta love the Govt. What did rev. Wright lie about? do some research. just because you close your eyes doesn’t mean its not there…. The writer who wrote this is very liberal with the facts as a biased cop would be. he just wants to make it home after his shift at all cost. if a unidentified man approaches you gun in hand at 4:00am what would you do. the cop is lucky it was in NYC not PA he would be dead. stricter gun laws in NY saved him. How many of you just said “thank god” . now look in the mirror and say hypocrite.
May 11, 2008 - 11:21 am sean bell blogs:I wrote but lost my connection so its not here. so in jist…….you are so evil plain evil….so go confess and feel better. because their is nothing worse than being un informed in this day and age. and that condesending B*tch. fear me? you are the police, judges, teachers. I am scared of you. remember how you felt when OJ got away with murder. we are numb to that because it happens all the time.
May 11, 2008 - 11:43 am sean bell blogs:I once said to a man if you were educated on a subject you might feel different about it and he said ” education brings arguments” at that point I realized no matter what the facts were he wanted to be on that side of the fence. Are you picking sides or do the facts matter?
May 11, 2008 - 11:57 am get the facts:All do respect park slope Sharpton didn’t call for riots. This country was built on protest. And police procedure may be when you shoot you shoot to stop which can result in death. but the question is why does this happen so often? Why are police so afraid.You can point fingers but the truth is poverty breeds crime.this happens all over the globe to every race. and its a fact blacks as a population are poor. And why are blacks poor? because of this worlds past policies all over. so now when you have hard working people who are trying to catch up that live in high crime areas with scared cops people become victims of circumstance that the system created. if my partner opens fire my instinct is my partner is in trouble so i shoot at his perceived threat. but in the end he perceived it. How can you say he tried to run over a officer. maybe he saw him as a armed man and didn’t here or see him identify himself. Maybe the policies protect cops from “breaking the law” but there all kinds of laws and policies that need changing. An most important a police officer should not look at his job as a paycheck and benefits. You gotta have some real passion.
May 12, 2008 - 9:25 am D757 is wrong:If the playing field was level you might have a point. Blacks get criminal records from bullsh*t, whites get warnings. do some research on the prison industrial complex (a for profit prison system run by corporations). See where they lobby congress to pass laws that help their profits. Which results in arrest of minorities. I love my white people but I am not gonna lie we know whats going on. If you don’t open a book or talk to a black person.The issue is why did they shoot period. One shot is bad enough. 50? You sound like Rudy Giuliani who brought up the fact Patrick Dorismond had a juvenillle pot fine After a officer killed him outside a nightclub on his way home after the cop solicited Dorismond for drugs. Dorismond was having a good time out and some guy kept hounding him they get into a altercation the guy shoots him dead. come to find out the guy was a cop looking for a collar who had no knowledge of Dorismond before that night. Come stakeout a white club there are plenty off drugs there to. The man was in his thirties with a family who was minding his own business. Then that bum mayor had Dorismonds SEALED JUVENILLE RECORD OPENED TO JUSTIFY THIS KILLING. D757 stop lying to yourself
May 17, 2008 - 9:17 am