Mar 7, 2007 3:37 pm US/Eastern
NYPD Officers Tells Grand Jury About Bell Shooting
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
A pair of police officers involved in the 50-bullet killing of an unarmed black man on his wedding day testified Wednesday before the Queens grand jury considering charges against them and three fellow cops.
Officer Marc Cooper did not speak with reporters either before or after his two hours of testimony, but his attorney said Cooper was optimistic after providing his version of the events that led to the Nov. 25, 2006, death of Sean Bell.
"We are confident the grand jurors will give him a fair shake," said defense attorney Paul Martin. "We're confident that after the jurors examine all the evidence, our client will be exonerated. It's a tragic situation, and that's something he does think about. But he's a professional, and he acted in a professional manner."
Cooper fired four shots as Bell and two friends exited a Queens strip club. He was followed to the stand by Officer Gescard Isnora, who fired 11 shots.
Michael Oliver, who reloaded and fired 31 shots on the Queens street, is due to testify Friday, said his attorney, James Culleton, confirming for the first time that the officer will appear before the panel.
Gescard, unlike the three previous officers who testified, entered the courthouse through a garage to avoid reporters and photographers because he is still technically an undercover officer and wanted to maintain his anonymity.
The grand jury summoned the officers in ascending order, based on the number of bullets they fired: Detective Paul Headley, 35, who fired one round, and Officer Michael Carey, 26, who fired three, testified Monday.
Would-be bridegroom Bell was killed and two of his friends were wounded during the incident. Lawyers have said that once the officers' testimony is complete, a vote on whether or not they will face criminal charges should come sometime in mid-March.
Last week, the grand jury heard accounts from the two surviving victims -- Joseph Guzman, 31, and Trent Benefield, 23 -- one in a wheelchair and one on crutches, making plain the extent of their injuries.
Guzman, Benefield and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, appeared on the courthouse steps last Friday with the Rev. Al Sharpton before testifying about the Bell shooting -- a case that sparked community outrage and raised questions about police tactics. The men claim the officers never identified themselves as police before opening fire.
Bell, 23, was killed before dawn after his bachelor party at Kalua Cabaret, a topless bar in Queens where police had launched an undercover operation in response to complaints about prostitution. He was to be married later that day.
The grand jury's investigation began in January. The Queens district attorney's office has declined to discuss the case.
Union representatives and lawyers for the officers have said their clients became convinced Bell and his friends were going to retrieve a gun from a car parked around the corner after overhearing them argue with another patron.
When Isnora approached the car -- driven by Bell and carrying Benefield and Guzman -- 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 spotted one of the men make a suspicious move, starting the shooting.
Bell was black, as are the other shooting victims. Some of the officers are black and some are white; all have been taken off undercover duty and put on paid leave.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
