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Apr 27, 2008 11:00 pm US/Eastern
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Rallies Continue In Protest Of Sean Bell Verdict
Civil Rights Groups Call For Sweeping Changes, Appointment Of A Special Prosecutor
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
For a second day rallies and demonstrations were led by Rev. Al Sharpton in Harlem along with calls to action from various civil rights groups and Sean Bell's Fiancee Nicole Paultre Bell.
Outrage over the Sean Bell verdict is spreading across the country. Sunday afternoon, leaders of the major civil rights organizations came to New York to say that they are prepared to ask thousands of their members to visit the city to tie it up in acts of civil disobedience.
At a National Action Network rally, Charles Steele Jr., President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) told the packed house, "You still have to hit the streets! Still have to raise hell and go to jail!"
Following the Sean Bell Verdict, Steele called for the crowd to apply pressure to bring about federal charges. He asked people to be willing to be arrested for non-violent acts of civil disobedience, including demonstrations that tie up traffic.
Judging by the support coming in from major organizations around the country -- the NAACP, The Urban League -- it seems many people are willing to tie up the streets of New York, if necessary.
Among them is Sean Bell's father, William Bell, who spoke exclusively with CBS 2 News Sunday. He said he is prepared to be arrested.
"He's gotta get justice," said Bell. "I meant that."
On Monday, Congressman John Conyers, who heads the Congressional Oversight Committee for the Justice Department, will come to Queens from Washington D.C. and walk the area from Club Kalua to where Sean Bell was shot - in anticipation of recommending the three officers be tried in federal court.
"It's really sad nothing [has been] done about it," added William Bell.
Civil rights advocates want sweeping reforms in the handling of police misconduct and brutality cases in the wake of the acquittal of three officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell. Two of Bell's friends were wounded in a volley of 50 shots fired by the undercover officers and two colleagues; the officers said they thought they were in mortal danger, but no gun was found in Bell's car.
As with previous fatal shooting incidents in which police were absolved of criminal responsibility, the case and the verdict have triggered widespread dismay and calls for protests. New York Gov. David Paterson is expected to support a proposal for a permanent state-level special prosecutor to investigate such incidents.
"The verdict in the Sean Bell case proves it is almost impossible to successfully prosecute cases of police misconduct, especially in homicide cases," lawyer Norman Siegel, former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said on Sunday.
Siegel, who remains an outspoken critic on civil rights and law enforcement issues, said the Bell verdict "underscores the need for systemic change in the way New York handles these important and at times high-profile cases and to improve community relations."
Siegel was joined at a news conference outside police headquarters by state Sen. Eric Adams, D-Brooklyn, and Marq Claxton, a retired police officer who, with Adams, co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care.
Adams, a former police captain, said the special prosecutor's office should be reinstated permanently by law. A previous special prosecutor's office was created by former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in 1974 but was abolished by Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1993.
Siegel said the city's five county prosecutors "wanted the limelight for their high-profile cases and Cuomo made a big mistake" by rescinding the executive order.
The special prosecutor should have power to investigate allegations of police misconduct, brutality and corruption, they said. The previous office was created primarily as a result of corruption in the New York Police Department, and that was its primary focus.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, whose office prosecuted the Bell shooting case, had said there was no basis for the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Adams also urged new legislation that would give the state attorney general's office power to take immediate control of a crime scene in cases like the Bell shooting, to make sure all evidence is preserved. He said this would protect the officers involved and provide a "true picture" of what happened.
"I don't believe a police department involved in a shooting should be responsible for the crime scene," he said.
Siegel and Adams said they looked for support on the issues from Paterson, who, as a state lawmaker and minority rights spokesman, had been a strong voice in previous police shooting controversies.
"Unless David changes his stripes, he should be very good on this issue," Siegel said.
A spokeswoman for the governor said Sunday he learned of the recommendations through press reports and would review them carefully.
"Like all New Yorkers, the governor takes the issue of police wrongdoing very seriously, but he also believes that the overwhelming majority of police officers perform their duties honorably and conscientiously each and every day," spokeswoman Erin Duggan said.
The advocates also said the NYPD's 13-member Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent agency that investigates allegations against police officers, needed a massive overhaul to become more effective, including replacing department attorneys with the board's own legal unit and extending the statute of limitations on its probes from 18 months to three years, the same time frame for federal civil rights cases.
Sharpton, National Urban League President Marc H. Morial and others said they planned to write U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and his assistant for civil rights to request a meeting.
"We wish for the officers to be investigated and prosecuted pursuant to federal laws," Morial said. "Anything less would be incomplete and an injustice."
CBS 2's Dave Carlin contributed to this report.
(© 2008 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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