Three detectives were found not guilty Friday on all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Jamaica, Queens, in November 2006. The verdict prompted calls for calm from the mayor, angry promises of protests by those speaking for the Bell family and expressions of relief by the detectives.
Here's a break down of the case.
A similar case went through the courts when I was living in New York. That time, a recent, unarmed immigrant was attempting to get his keys to unlock his front door when officers called out from the street for him to put his hands up; he didn't and continued to search for his keys out of his jacket pocket, which the cops interpreted as him reaching for his gun. They shot him 41 times.
3 comments:
is it any wonder why police act as if they have complete impunity for their actions? it's because they do. they can shoot unarmed black men 41 or 50 or however many other times, taser an unarmed, compliant man to death, beat the shit out people on camera, or taser homeless fare evaders. there is literally nothing they can do that will result in any disciplinary action of any kind whatsoever.
as a sign of just how low the respect for police has become in vancouver - i took the elevator up to my apartment with the sweet, elderly russian woman who lives next door to us yesterday and i mentioned that i was just coming back from school at ubc. She then commented on how terrible the mass arrest of protesters at ubc the other week was. i said something about about how everyone at ubc hates the rcmp detachment on campus (recent poll of students found 95% students dislike campus police, most issues of student newspaper include a story of police shutting down campus events for no reason, recent issue was entirely about student hatred of rcmp). my sweet elderly neighbour then said something to the effect of "i hate those fucking rcmp pigs. at ubc and everywhere else"
I love Anne!
Post a Comment