Feb 28, 2008 7:44 pm US/Eastern
Witness: Bell In Altercation On Night Of Shooting
Friends Say 'Words' And 'Scowls' Exchanged With Possibly Armed Man
QUEENS (CBS/AP) ―
-
-
Nicole Paultre, fiancee of Sean Bell, man killed by police after leaving his bachelor party in Queens, New York.
AP
-
-
A photo of Sean Bell with his fiancee Nicole Paultre and one of his children is displayed at a memorial dedicated to the shooting victim on Nob. 28, 2006, in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. Sean Bell was killed and two friends wounded when New York City po
Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
A groom gunned down by police in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day was involved in a spat with another man -- possibly armed -- moments before his death, two witnesses testified Thursday at the trial of three undercover detectives.
A police commander also briefly took the witness stand to describe his impromptu decision to target a seedy Queens strip club -- where the shooting victim, Sean Bell, was hosting his bachelor party -- for an undercover operation that night. A prosecutor, in opening statements on Monday, described the operation as a "tale of carelessness verging on incompetence."
Two of Bell's friends, Hugh Jensen and Lorenzo Kinred, testified that while exiting the club the groom exchanged words and scowls with an unidentified man. The man, they said, stood next to his black sport utility vehicle and struck a menacing pose by putting his hand in one pocket.
"Of course I thought he had a gun," Jensen said while recounting the encounter.
The cross-examination of the pair of prosecution witnesses appeared to bolster the detectives' claim that they resorted to deadly force because they suspected a gun fight was brewing.
Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges in the incident on Nov. 25, 2006. The third detective, Marc Cooper, is charged with reckless endangerment.
The detectives, who were responding to complaints about prostitution at the club, have claimed they fired their guns only after Isnora identified himself as a police officer and Bell's car nearly ran him over.
No weapon was found in the car, and a grand jury investigation resulted in criminal charges against three of the five shooters. At the defendants' request, the case is being heard by a judge and not a jury.
On Thursday, the trial's third day, Jensen recalled noticing two men -- unaware at the time it was Isnora and another undercover -- watching intently as Bell and the SUV driver squared off. He saw the man drive off as Bell and two friends walked around the corner, then heard gunfire erupt.
Jensen claimed he never heard one of Bell's friends say, "Yo, go get my gun," as the defense contends.
The other partygoer, Kinred, testified that while walking to another car, he witnessed a gunman in a crouched stance shooting into Bell's vehicle.
The judge also heard testimony from Lt. Gary Napoli. Though not charged, the leader of the undercover team has been chastised for sloppy supervision and for ducking under a car dashboard once the shooting started.
Napoli said that the Kalua Cabaret strip club was not among the locations listed on the team's plan that night. However, he decided to target the club because the team -- amid rumors it was being disbanded -- needed one more arrest there to obtain a court order to shut it down.
"It was, for all intents and purposes, our last night in Queens," he said.
The lieutenant was to continue testifying on Friday.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths, July-Dec.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments