The Case and Verdict

The police claimed that they were in danger of the three men when they shot at them. They thought they heard one of them shout out that he had a gun. I find that really hard to believe since they were unarmed at the time of the shooting. The defense tried to convince the judge that the victims were the ones to blame in what happened. I wonder why the police didn't just fire warning shots if they felt that they were in real danger of getting killed themselves. Anyway, the prosecution was trying to prove that the cops didn't have to shoot them the way they did. Unfortunately, the judge didn't feel that way because he didn't find the defendants guilty of the shootings. The judge claimed that the witnesses weren't credible enough for him to find the cops responsible for what they did to Sean Bell and his friends.

Needless to say, Sean Bell's family is completely outraged by the verdict. I am not surprised that they are. There was no real justice served in this case at all. Now Reverend Al Sharpton wants to continue to fight for what happened. He wants to start a peaceful rally about it. I guess he wants to make sure that Justice will be served. I have a bad feeling that the rally is going to be anything, but peaceful. I really do hope that there aren't any more people who end up dying because of this incident.

My Thoughts

I was shocked but not really surprised that the three detectives were let off the hook. Was that really justice for them to walk away without really being punished? They were even suspended with pay so they weren't even suffering for what they did to the young men. I guess in all fairness, the cops did apologize for what they did, but it doesn't bring Sean Bell back to his child as well as his family. It's a shame that Sean Bell was gunned down when he was so young and had his life ahead of him. For those of you who didn't know, he was on 23 years old when he died. He also had a young child as well as a fiancée that he has to leave behind. He also leaves behind his other family members as well. To be fair, I don't know why he chose to be out that late at night when he was getting married the next day. I do think that he should have the right to stay out if he wants without worrying about being gunned down by the police.

This was reminiscent of the killing of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant who was shot with 41 bullets by the police in 1999. The police mistook his wallet for a gun. Those officers were also acquitted. Is this going to be a pattern that is developing? Are people going to have to stay indoors in order to avoid being shot for no reason? I am not saying that all police officers are bad people because that's not true. There are some that are out there that are really making the other good police officers look really bad. How many more people have to die by the police before anyone does something to stop it?