Last night, the family and friends of Sean Bell were joined by hundreds for Bell's funeral in Queens. Bell was killed during a chaotic confrontation with police officers offices last weekend. The Reverend Al Sharpton spoke during the service.
"We must give Sean a legacy, a legacy of justice, a legacy of fairness, not a legacy against police. We don't hate cops. We don't hate race. We hate wrong. We dislike wickedness in high places."
Then speaking directly to Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, who was standing in for Mayor Bloomberg at the Bell family's request, Sharpton said, "I keep reading in the paper that y'all are looking for a fourth guy. Well, I don't believe that fourth guy exists." People outside the church were angry and chanted "50 bullets! 50 cops!" in reference to the number of bullet fired on Bell and two friends in half a minute. The NY Times reports Bishop Lester Williams, who was supposed to marry Bell and his fiancee Nicole Paultrie but ended up presiding over Bell's funeral, asked Mos Def, who went to the funeral to pay his respects, to help disperse the crowd. Mos Def said, "If you’re young and you’re black the police are raised to treat you in a more hostile manner. They’re programmed to be hostile." Here's video of the funeral.
Then speaking directly to Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, who was standing in for Mayor Bloomberg at the Bell family's request, Sharpton said, "I keep reading in the paper that y'all are looking for a fourth guy. Well, I don't believe that fourth guy exists." People outside the church were angry and chanted "50 bullets! 50 cops!" in reference to the number of bullet fired on Bell and two friends in half a minute. The NY Times reports Bishop Lester Williams, who was supposed to marry Bell and his fiancee Nicole Paultrie but ended up presiding over Bell's funeral, asked Mos Def, who went to the funeral to pay his respects, to help disperse the crowd. Mos Def said, "If you’re young and you’re black the police are raised to treat you in a more hostile manner. They’re programmed to be hostile." Here's video of the funeral.
Witnesses: Man Threatened Bell Outside Club
Witnesses to the fatal police shooting of Sean Bell outside a Queens strip club spoke with the Queens District Attorney Monday.They told the DA the only suggestion of a gun they saw that night was in the pocket of a guy having an argument with Sean Bell out in front of the club, pretending he had a gun.Attorney Charlie King said has 11 clients in this case, and his witnesses said the shooting victims and the man exchanged looks and words, but the man got in his black SUV and left.“This confrontation of words was witnessed by the undercover officers who then allowed that individual who had his hand in his pocket as if he had a gun to drive off in his car unimpeded by these undercover police officers,” King said.
The officers said they heard Joseph Guzman say “yo go get my gun,” so they followed the bachelor party group to their car.When the shooting started, however, the only bullets came from police pistols.The clients also claim the bullets flew in two distinct bursts separated by a gap of 2 to 5 seconds, King said. “The pattern of fire was something like a hail of bullets, a pause, and then a hail of bullets again.”
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