| By Curt and Jamila Hayman (Chief Editors),
on Friday Jun, 20 2008 12:09:11 pm MST
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 The Sean Bell shooting incident took place in the New York City borough of Queens on November 25, 2006, in which one hispanic and two African-American men were shot at a total of fifty times by a team of both plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers, killing one of the men, Sean Bell, on the morning of his wedding day, and severely wounding two of his friends. The incident sparked fierce criticism of the police from some members of the public and drew comparisons to the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo. Three of the five detectives involved in the shooting went to trial on charges ranging from manslaughter to reckless endangerment, and were found not guilty.
Sean Bell (b. May 18, 1983) was the nephew of the University of Miami basketball coach Frank Haith. As a teenager, he studied acting in Flushing, Queens. He was a pitcher for John Adams High School in Ozone Park. His senior year season ended with an 11-0 record, a 2.30 E.R.A. and 97 strikeouts in 62.2 innings. Bell then gave up baseball because his girlfriend was pregnant. Bell held odd jobs after the birth of his daughter. His former fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, told Larry King that Bell was an electrician by trade and in between jobs when the shooting occurred.
Bell had been arrested three times, twice for drug dealing and once for a firearms possession. In all cases, he was released on his own recognizance. The New York Daily News reported that, according to unnamed law enforcement sources, Bell sold crack cocaine twice to a confidential police informant in August of 2006.
The two men that were injured by the police, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, had been arrested nine and three times, respectively, each having been arrested at least once for illegal firearm possession. Benefield was subsequently arrested during a gambling raid in Harlem after attending the funeral of James Brown, and again on September 25, 2007 for hitting a woman with whom he had a child. The latter arrest resulted in his pleading guilty on October 12, 2007 to a lesser charge, and accepting a conditional discharge along with counseling.
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A Tribute to Sean BellFriday, 20 June 2008 The Sean Bell shooting incident took place in the New York City borough of Queens on November 25, 2006, in which one hispanic and two...
Last update: Friday Jun, 20 2008 12:17:02 pm MST
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