Feb 29, 2008 6:38 pm US/Eastern
NYPD Lieutenant: 50 Shots Came Without Warning
Uncomfortable Setting As Lieutenant Takes Stand For Prosecution
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
The lieutenant who supervised the detective accused of killing Sean Bell finished testifying on Friday.
Though prosecutors brought him to the witness stand, the officer tried to help the defendants.
When Sean Bell's family and supporters left court, they walked past Lt. Gary Napoli, who would not look at them directly and then had his lawyer speak for him.
"The officers were justified in shooting," Howard Tanner said.
Napoli testified for two days about the police undercover unit that he supervised and shot Bell to death in a hail of 50 police bullets in November 2006. Napoli testified that he could not recall if his officers, Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper identified themselves when stopping Bell and friends Joe Guzman and Trent Benefield in Bell's car right after his bachelor party at Club Kalua in the Jamaica section of Queens.
Napoli testified his undercover officers said over the radio "It's getting hot in here," meaning a fight and they thought someone had a gun. But the lieutenant crouched in his vehicle when his officers started shooting and only came out toward the end. When prosecutors asked, "You did not feel it was necessary to use deadly physical force?" he responded, " correct ."
For the Bell family it was confirmation that police did not identify themselves before shooting.
On Monday an officer in Napoli's unit will testify. He was one of the undercover officers in the club the night of shooting. He was not one of the officers who shot Bell, Guzman and Benefield.
It is not yet known if the defendants will take the stand themselves.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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