Apr 28, 2008 10:10 pm US/Eastern
N.Y. Governor 'Surprised' By Bell Acquittals
Paterson's Comments Come On Heels Of Increased Civil Disobedience Threats In NYC
Congressman John Conyers Visits With Bell's Family
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
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Supporters for sentencing three police officers who shot and killed 23-year old Sean Bell in a hail of 50 police bullets in November 2006, await the verdict, outside Queens County Supreme Court, on April 25, 2008 in New York.
Getty Images
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Nicole Paultre Bell, widow of Sean Bell, man killed by police after leaving his bachelor party in Queens, speaks during rally, New York.
AP
New York Gov. David Paterson said Monday that he was "surprised" by last week's acquittal of three police officers in the fatal shooting of unarmed groom-to-be Sean Bell.
Queens State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman cleared undercover detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper Friday of charges including manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and assault in the Nov. 26, 2006, shooting near a Queens strip club where Bell, 23, had just left his bachelor party.
Paterson said he was surprised by the verdict "to a certain degree, maybe just because of the number of shots that were fired."
Officers unloaded 50 shots on Bell and his two friends outside the Kalua Cabaret in the early morning hours on the day Bell was to be married; Bell's friends survived. The officers said they believed the men had a gun and feared for their lives; the three were unarmed.
The governor said he understood why some people are upset and protesting, referring to marches around the city that have taken place since the verdict. He noted that cases such as the Bell shooting "arouse a mistrust" in the criminal justice system "among people who live in these neighborhoods," but he said the verdict must be accepted.
"It is the way our criminal justice system works," he said.
Paterson encouraged people who are dissatisfied with the outcome of the trial to wait for investigations by the New York Police Department and federal authorities to be completed. "There may still be some redress in that case," he said.
Also Monday, Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York and other lawmakers met with Bell's family, civil rights advocates, and the two survivors, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, who still has four police bullets lodged in his body. The group discussed the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the shooting. Civil rights advocates and others are demanding federal charges be brought against the three officers.
In the afternoon rain, Conyers stood outside the club before walking over to the scene of the shooting, where officers fired on Bell, Benefield and Guzman as they sat in a car.
"This is an important moment in the history of the criminal justice system in America," Conyers, a Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told reporters before visiting the scene, where there was a memorial of flowers, candles and pictures.
"We want to make sure justice is served and a message is sent out not only to law enforcement but to young people that these kinds of tragedies have to end in this country."
The detectives union has requested a meeting with Conyers, who agreed, said Ken Frydman, the union's spokesman. "We'd like equal time," Frydman said. "We'd like to be heard."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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