Mar 17, 2007 3:16 am US/Eastern
Grand Jury Indicts 3 Cops In Sean Bell Case
Queens DA Expected To Announce Nature Of Charges Monday
CBS 2's Pablo Guzman contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A grand jury Friday indicted three of the five NYPD officers involved in a 50-shot barrage in November that killed Sean Bell, an unarmed groom on his wedding day, and wounded two friends -- a case that ignited outrage around New York and prompted accusations of racism against the NYPD.
Their attorneys said indictments were handed up against Michael Oliver, who reloaded and fired 31 shots; Gescard Isnora, who fired 11 shots; and Marc Cooper, who fired four shots. The lawyers said they had not been told the nature of the charges, but were instructed to surrender their clients Monday morning.
Not indicted by the grand jury, according to sources who spoke with CBS 2 were the other two officers present the night of the shooting -- Paul Headley, who fired one round, and Michael Carey, who fired three.
CBS 2's Pablo Guzman was the first to report Friday, on wcbstv.com, that the grand jury had reached a decision. The Queens District Attorney's office did not indicate in a statement it issued whether any indictments had been issued. A news conference was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Monday.
"Until such time, the results of the grand jury's deliberations remained sealed as a matter of law," the district attorney's office said.
A 23-person grand jury heard the case, and 12 grand jurors needed to vote for an indictment for charges to be brought. The panel included eight blacks, seven whites, and a mix of Hispanics and Asians.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and the lawyer for Bell's parents said the charges marked an important first step in the fight for justice.
"Nothing is going to bring their son back," said Peter St. George Davis, attorney for Sean Bell's parents. "It is a very sad story. They are devastated. But they pray every day that somehow, out of their son's death will come a message or lasting legacy."
Police union officials defended the officers, arguing they were responding to reasonable suspicions the victims were armed and dangerous.
"This indictment sends a chilling message to all New York City police officers and to all law enforcement throughout the country," said Michael Palladino, president of the 15,000-member Detectives Endowment Association. "You can act in good faith and there is no margin for error."
Palladino also warned the public not to assume the officers are guilty.
"You can indict a ham sandwich or even a rock in the grand jury," he said.
The volley of fire that killed Bell, 23, and wounded two of his companions on Nov. 25 stirred outrage around New York, and officials were bracing for more of the same if the officers had avoided charges. Bell was black, as are the other victims; three of the officers are black and two are white.
Extra police officers were put on standby and the mayor met with black leaders in the Queens neighborhood where the shooting occurred in hopes of defusing any tensions that might arise from the decision.
"Whatever the grand jury says ... I think you will see the people of this city behaving in an exemplary manner," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday. "They can be disappointed, they can express themselves -- that's freedom of speech, I don't have a problem with that. But nobody is going to go out and make our streets unsafe."
The decision came one day after a last minute witness was brought in to testify before the grand jury. The man testified for about an hour, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury process.
Earlier in the week Bloomberg, whose community outreach program went into overdrive this week as months of grand jury presentations wound down, issued a stern warning.
"If anybody wants to use this as an excuse to cause disruption and violate the law, they will find that our police department will do exactly what they're trained to do and hired to do," said Bloomberg. "We will make sure that everybody is as safe on the streets before the grand jury rules as afterward."
The killing of Bell and the wounding of his bachelor party guests, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, raised questions about police tactics and prompted vigils and protests by civil rights activists.
Guzman, Benefield and Nicole Paultre Bell, who was to marry Bell and legally took his name after his death, planned an appearance with their attorneys on Wednesday afternoon in Harlem with Sharpton.
The grand jurors had been instructed to consider several charges: second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide stemming from Bell's death; and attempted murder, assault or reckless endangerment in the wounding of Benefield and Guzman.
The November shooting raised questions about police tactics and prompted vigils and protests by civil rights activists. Bell's relatives held a vigil outside a police station for 50 days, one for each bullet fired, and called for prosecution of the five officers.
Police were at the Kalua strip club that night as part of an undercover operation in response to complaints about prostitution. Union representatives and lawyers for the officers have said the five became convinced that Bell and his friends were going to retrieve a gun from a parked car after overhearing them argue with another patron.
When one officer approached the car, driven by Bell, it lurched forward and bumped him, then twice rammed into an unmarked police minivan, the NYPD said. The undercover detective has claimed through his lawyer that he saw one of the men in the car make a suspicious move, which set off the shooting.
Though no weapon was recovered from Bell's car, authorities said prosecutors would instruct the grand jurors that they must consider whether any of the police officers was "reasonably justified" in shooting -- the overriding issue in the case.
Under state law, police can use deadly force if they have a "reasonable" belief that their lives or those of civilians are in immediate danger, even if they were wrong.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
