The City Reacts to Sean Bell Grand Jury Findings
New York, NY —
After 2 months of closed door meetings and 3 days of deliberations, the Sean Bell grand jury's findings were finally released yesterday.
The grand jury let 2 of the officers who opened fire off the hook, but indicted 3 others on charges ranging from reckless endangerment to the far more serious charge of manslaughter in the first degree - an offense punishable by up to 25 years in prison.
WNYC's Arun Venugopal looks at how indictments are playing out around the city.
DA RICHARD BROWN: The second count of the indictment charges Detectives Oliver and Isnora with the crime of Manslaughter 2º (a Class C Felony) in that, acting in concert, each aiding the other, recklessly caused the death of Sean Bell by shooting him with a loaded pistol.
REPORTER: By the time he announced the charges yesterday against 3 of the officers at the center of the Sean Bell case, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown had been upstaged by his own office. The charges had been leaked to lawyers and the press on Friday, making yesterday’s announcement a formality. Brown was somber throughout the proceedings. He distanced himself from the investigation he had led, and avoided criticizing the police as a whole.
While the indictments came as a surprise to many of Sean Bell’s supporters, to others, they fell short. Michelle Hart lives in Southeast Queens, where Bell was killed.
MICHELLE HART: And it’s disrespectful for this police officer to not be charged with murder. If I went out and killed a cop right now, what would I be looking at? Be honest, what would I be looking at? Okay, so why should there be a difference? A life is a life. Okay, a life is a life.
REPORTER: When they appeared for their arraignment in the afternoon, Michael Oliver, Marc Cooper and Gescard Isnora stood without expression as the charges were read to them. The only words came from their respective lawyers, who pled Not Guilty on behalf of their clients.
But Michael Palladino, the head of the Detectives Endowment Association, reacted with anger to the charges, saying they would cause police officers around the country to second-guess themselves. And he suggested that Sean Bell’s actions the night of his death had not received enough scrutiny.
PALLADINO: "The message that I hear is that it is not a crime to get intoxicated, get behind the wheel of a car strike a police officer with the vehicle then strike a police van a couple of times with the vehicle in attempt to flee from the location... But that's not a crime."
REPORTER: Palladino didn’t rule out the possibility that the officers would request a change of venue for the trial. That’s something the Reverend Al Sharpton and others are already mobilizing against.
SHARPTON: “We will not, let me repeat. We will not participate, attend or cooperate with a trial outside of Queens County. Because we will not have this kind of insult or receive our participation.”
REPORTER: The District Attorney has also said he’d fight a change of venue. And according to the lawyer for Sean Bell’s parents, the burden of proof for the defendants would be great, should they try to demonstrate that a Queens jury couldn’t be impartial.
But for some politicians, the trial to come is only part of the picture. Queens Councilman Leroy Comrie says the indictments could lead to better laws, and help provide greater oversight of the NYPD.
COMRIE: …we never have to go down this road again. And we now have the opportunity to look at all of these issues, with more leverage than ever before to actually get things, to get justice done legislatively.
The officers charged in the case return to court on April 11. For WNYC, I’m Arun Venugopal.
