tagged w/ Sean Bell
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NEW YORK (AP / CBS 2) - The fiancee and friends of an unarmed man killed in a 50-bullet police shooting on his wedding day said they wanted justice. The legal system gave them money - more than $7 million.
The city did what it has done time and time again: pay.
Nearly $1 billion has been paid over the past decade to resolve claims against the nation’s largest police department, according to an investigation by The Associated Press. Some smaller departments also shell out tens of millions a year in payouts, but New York’s spending on police claims dwarfs that of any other U.S. city.
Taxpayers foot the bill - New York officials say the payments cost less than insurance would, and officers themselves don’t usually bear personal responsibility.
The $964 million in payouts covers everything from brutality cases to patrol-car wrecks to stationhouse accidents, and it includes settlements and trial awards. Some police officers have been sued again and again - including one officer at least seven times on excessive force and brutality claims. Some law firms have made it their primary business to sue the city.
City lawyers call the payouts a hard-fought cost of policing a metropolis of 8.3 million people - a price officials work to minimize through officer training and discipline. And the city has prevailed in thousands of cases, including some deadly shootings.
“We’re not pushovers,” said Fay Leoussis, one of the city’s chief lawyers.
But the city is literally paying for police mistakes without learning from them, critics say. In cases like the 50-bullet shooting, the city pays even when officers are acquitted of criminal charges and don’t admit wrongdoing.
“Right now it’s open season against the city. Just file a lawsuit, and you’re going to get money,” said City Council member Peter Vallone, who has sponsored a bill he hopes will make it impossible to pay out dubious claims. “Everyone makes out - except the taxpayer.”
Lawsuits against police are inevitable, some experts say - police interact with millions of citizens a year, confronting criminal suspects and the mentally ill, as well as the angry, opportunistic and litigious. A 2005 federal Bureau of Justice Statistics survey found that 90 percent of people say officers act properly, but other studies estimate about 30,000 lawsuits are filed against them a year.
To some who have sued and won, payouts don’t amount to true compensation.
“You can sue New York City, but it’s not really justifying what happened,” says Charles Shepherd, who spent about 14 years in prison on a murder conviction that hinged on the testimony of a witness who eventually admitted she’d lied; another man later confessed to the crime.
Shepherd settled in 2005 for $370,000 from the city and $1.65 million from the state.
“The city feels they can give you X amount of money” to make up for injustice, said Shepherd, 45, now a counselor for children with HIV. “It’s not fair whatsoever.”
Comparing cities’ payouts is complicated because of differences in record-keeping, the time frames of data available and the fact that the 35,000-officer NYPD is more than twice as big as any other U.S. police department.
But some rough comparisons can be made, using recent data several cities provided to the AP.
Chicago, with about a third of New York’s population, paid out an average of $39.1 million a year over the past six fiscal years; New York paid $96.4 million a year on average from 1999 to 2008, the most recent years available.
Chicago’s figures include a nearly $21 million payment in 2008 to a driver paralyzed when police slammed into his car while chasing someone else.
In Los Angeles, with less than half New York’s population, police paid an average of nearly $21.4 million a year in the past seven fiscal years.
Philadelphia, with less than a fifth of New York’s population, spent only about one-tenth as much as New York in payouts, averaging $9.2 million a year on payouts from 2005 to 2009. Philadelphia police track “problem” officers but through internal investigations, not lawsuits.
New York’s data don’t detail the nature of the police cases. But research into just some of the biggest payouts shows car accidents alone cost more than $30 million in those 10 years. Some multimillion-dollar settlements have gone to officers themselves for on-the-job injuries.
More than $23 million was spent to compensate for police bullets or brutality, millions more to settle claims of unjustified arrests and wrongful convictions.
Some officers are sued multiple times: In the past three years, one Brooklyn precinct sergeant has been sued at least seven times on excessive force and brutality claims, costing the city at least $188,250. A narcotics detective was the target of at least six suits that spurred $103,000 in payouts. The city has paid $171,500 to settle four suits against one plainclothes detective; another case against him is pending.
The city did not admit wrongdoing. Two of the officers are still on the force; one retired. None was charged criminally or disciplined, though the sergeant was later monitored for use of force.
Most departments don’t do much, if anything, with information from lawsuits; to them, if no wrongdoing is admitted, why bother tracking the cases?
But some experts believe mining the cases could lead to fewer suits.
Even if (officials) tracked the information just to decrease liability, isn’t that a good idea?” said Cynthia Conti-Cook of Stoll, Glickman and Bellina, a Brooklyn firm that has sued officers.
Last year, Vallone proposed tracking the city’s settlements to ensure it pays out only when liable and learns from the cases it does pay. The NYPD assigned a committee to look at the more costly payouts for evidence of perjury, corruption and other wrongdoing.
City lawyers say they do weigh claims with an eye on potential costs.
“Even though the facts may all be pointing to a justification of what you did, and no liability, if it’s going to a jury, then it’s always a question,” Leoussis said of the city law department. “You can’t afford to take that kind of risk.”
The nearly $7.2 million settlement in the Sean Bell case was the city’s largest settlement ever in a fatal police shooting.
Three officers opened fire on a car carrying the unarmed Bell, 23, and two friends. The officers said they thought the men were armed, and the men had ignored orders to stop. Bell died in a hail of 50 bullets around the corner from a Queens topless bar where he had just had a bachelor party.
The officers were acquitted of manslaughter in the 2006 shooting in state court; federal prosecutors declined to charge them with civil rights crimes.
The shooting led to police reforms ranging from added firearms training to rule changes for undercover work. The officers still face disciplinary proceedings that could cost them their jobs.
Bell’s friend Joseph Guzman, shot 17 times, ended up with $3 million.
But, he said, “nobody wins in this.”
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10/14/nypd-paid-nearly-1-billion-to-settle-lawsuits/NEW YORK (AP / CBS 2) - The fiancee and friends of an unarmed man killed in a... more
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A cop involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell on his wedding day is now suing the dead man's estate -- claiming Bell drunkenly assaulted and badly injured him with a car right before the hail of police gunfire that brought the unarmed man down.
(click the url for the full story)A cop involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell on his wedding day is now suing the... more
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On Thursday, January 14th, Michael Tillman walked out of the Cook County Courthouse and headed straight for Mac Arthur's Restaurant, a soul food institution on Chicago's West Side.
After 23 years of being wrongfully incarcerated and facing a life behind bars, the barbeque ribs tasted particularly sweet.
About an hour earlier, Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan had dismissed the original 1986 murder, rape and kidnapping charges that had kept Tillman locked away in Illinois prisons since he was 21. Those charges were based on a confession that Tillman says was tortured out of him by officers under the command of former Chicago Police Detective Jon Burge. Prosecutors declined to bring new charges against Tillman and, after attorneys faxed some paperwork to the Illinois Department of Corrections, he was free to go.
It was a long road to justice, a journey that gained critical momentum after a July 2008 investigative story in AlterNet, written by Chicago-based reporter Jessica Pupovac, tipped area lawyers off to the facts of Tillman's case.
"If it weren't for the publicity that was brought to the case in the early stages, being only a couple of years ago, by AlterNet… he might still be in prison now," Flint Taylor founding partner of the People's Law Office and co-counsel in Tillman's case, told AlterNet. "The first news organization that showed interest was AlterNet, and Jessica Pupovac (whose name I can never pronounce). She not only wrote a very exhaustive article that brought a lot of local and national attention to the case, but she herself stayed in touch with Mr. Tillman."
As AlterNet reported in July 2008, Tillman's personal horror in the predawn hours of July 22, 1986, when Detectives Ronald Boffo and Peter Dignan took him to an Area 2 interrogation room and pressed him for information about the murder of 42-year-old Betty Howard, whose body had been found the day before in the apartment building overseen by Tillman.
When Tillman insisted upon his innocence, Boffo and Dignan, along with three other officers, handcuffed him to the wall, hit him in the face and punched him in the stomach until he vomited blood. During the course of what appeared to be three days, rotating pairs of officers brought him to the railroad tracks behind the station and held a gun to his head, suffocated him repeatedly with thick plastic bags, poured soda up his nose and forced him into Dumpsters outside of the apartment building, ordering him to search through the rubbish for a murder weapon until, according to Detective John Yucaitis, Tillman confessed to the crime.
At the time, Michael Tillman was 20 years old, with a 3-year-old daughter and an infant son. He was charged with first degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault and sentenced to life in prison. [For more details on Betty Howard's brutal murder and the subsequent trial of Michael Tillman and his co-defendant, Sean Bell, who was found not guilty, see AlterNet's initial coverage here.]
Three weeks after Tillman's arrest, police found two men driving Howard's stolen car, with the knife used to stab her still in the vehicle. Those men led the officers to 27-year-old Clarence Trotter, who had Howard's camera and stereo in his apartment. His fingerprints were found on a soda can at the murder scene, and evidence linked him to the gun used in her murder.
Police found no physical evidence tying Tillman to the scene, or to Trotter. Weeks later, after Tillman's case file was sealed, Trotter was also given a life sentence in a separate trial.
Tillman appealed the decision in 1999 and lost. The judge wrote in his decision that even though the corroborating evidence may only be circumstantial, it "need only tend to confirm and inspire belief in the confession."
More at the link above:On Thursday, January 14th, Michael Tillman walked out of the Cook County Courthouse... more
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In reaction to the 2008 acquittal of three police officers in the killing of Sean Bell in 2006, a group of New York City community artists, poets and activists organized an event called "50 Artists, 50 Shots: We Are All Sean Bell." The event featured poets, spoken word performers, musicians, painters, dancers, photographers etc., who each agreed to take one bullet for the 50 that were fired at Sean Bell and his friends, and transform each bullet into their art in order to honor his memory, and to express rage and grief for the decision to let the officers free.
The intention of this event was to have an open and safe space for New Yorkers to fully express themselves about the outcome of the Sean Bell case- to educate, to learn, to mourn, to grow, and to have honest dialogues. But most of all, to give inspiration for everyone to take action that would result in a real change in how police officers are trained, so that they can learn to respond to certain situations in a less aggressive and careless manner.
This video has been uploaded three weeks after Oscar Grant was unjustly killed in Oakland by a police officer who shot him at point blank range early on New Year's Day, 2009. Police brutality continues to plague our communities. How can we, as civilians, organize to help make fundamental, systematic changes to stop these tragedies from happening?In reaction to the 2008 acquittal of three police officers in the killing of Sean Bell... more
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This first episode of season two of my news show takes a look (and pokes a bit of fun) at Hillary Clinton, Paula Abdul, police tactics and small dogs.This first episode of season two of my news show takes a look (and pokes a bit of fun)... more
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The Rev. Al Sharpton made good on his promise of civil disobedience and a vow to “shut this city down” in response to the acquittal of three New York police officers in the shooting death of Sean Bell by leading a protest in rush hour traffic yesterday.
Read the rest here.....
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6898The Rev. Al Sharpton made good on his promise of civil disobedience and a vow to... more
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The Rev Al Sharpton was one of many arrested in NYC today when he and a multitude of others protested the verdict in the Sean Bell case. Good for you Al. F the police.
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"Several hundred protesters briefly shut down traffic at entrances to the Queensboro Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge and the Holland Tunnel and Queens-Midtown Tunnel this afternoon as part of a coordinated series of protests over the acquittal of three New York City police detectives in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell in 2006.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who coordinated the protests, was among dozens and perhaps hundreds of people who were arrested by the police — nearly all of them in an orderly fashion — for blocking traffic. The protesters expressed outrage over a Queens judge’s decision on April 25 to acquit the three detectives — Michael Oliver, Gescard F. Isnora and Marc Cooper — over the November 2006 death of Mr. Bell, who died in a hail of police bullets outside a nightclub in Jamaica, Queens, hours before he was to have been married.
Mr. Sharpton and his National Action Network coordinated the protests, which were to include five locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as protests in Chicago and Atlanta." NYT The Rev Al Sharpton was one of many arrested in NYC today when he and a multitude of... more
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Protesters angry at the not-guilty verdicts received by police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell have blocked streets and bridges throughout New York City. Dozens of demonstrators have been arrested, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, who organized the protest.
"Today we want motorists to think about how three people were shot 50 times by officers," said Rev. Sharpton.Protesters angry at the not-guilty verdicts received by police officers involved in... more
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New York City reacts to the four police officers responsible for murder of the unarmed Sean Bell: found not guilty.New York City reacts to the four police officers responsible for murder of the unarmed... more
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Following his recent release responding to the Sean Bell verdict, "911 Is A Joke", The Game gave an exclusive reflection on what the acquittal means to America, the logic behind the decision, and how far he plans on taking his freedom of speech right.
Read the rest here.....
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6842Following his recent release responding to the Sean Bell verdict, "911 Is A... more
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Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends...Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton... more
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Following yesterday’s acquittal of three New York City police detectives for the November 2006 shooting death of an unarmed citizen, Sean Bell [click to read], many in the Hip Hop community have expressed their outrage over a judge’s decision to let the officers go free for their roles in collectively firing 50 rounds at Bell and two of his friends following a bachelor party on the eve of his wedding day.
Read the rest here.....
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6817Following yesterday’s acquittal of three New York City police detectives for the... more
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The morning of April 25, 2008 was one that should have awakened the senses of America – in particular the products of Hip Hop culture. The similarities of this day and April 29th 1992 should draw instant comparisons - if it wasn’t for our lack of memory. Back in 1992, the acquittal of four police officers who were caught on video beating down Rodney King incited a community into acts of rage and violence.
The cops were caught red handed and the evidence seemed to make this an open and shut case. But once our wonderful judicial system inserted their influence, those four boys in blue walked away. The aftermath would go down in infamy as one of the most disturbing scenes in recent memory. Although I don’t condone violence, I understand the civil unrest and ire birthed from this.
Fast forward nearly sixteen years to the day. This time, three officers (out of five involved) were acquitted of all charges after firing 50 shots at Sean Bell as he left a strip club a day before his wedding back on November 26th 2006. The cops thought he had a gun, which somehow justifies 50 shots being fired at one person. One cop fired 31 shots himself - which takes 12.3 seconds and 1 reload to get the job done. It takes one bullet to incapacitate a man. 50 bullets would be easily described as overkill – no matter how “in the wrong” an individual is. Did I mention that Bell was unarmed and approached by plain clothes officers? Two of which were black but I digress…
Surely, upon hearing that these three cops were “not guilty” the community would be outraged. Not to say they weren’t, but this pales in comparison to the scene back in 1992. Rodney King got beatdown, Sean Bell got murdered. “Who’s going to speak on our behalf,” I questioned as I scanned the news to find one black face. And there he is…
Barack Hussein Obama Jr
As I stare at my television, I wait for Obama to say something profound about the Sean Bell case while he is in the midst of delivering yet another round of gas/war/food rhetoric to the public. Someone finally asks about the Sean Bell case. You know what that is kids?
Catch 22: Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I’ll explain later.
Obama stammers a bit before being as vague as humanly possible in regards to how he feels when cops who shower an unarmed man with 50 bullets are acquitted of all charges. He basically sums it up to “taking precautionary measures to ensure these things don’t happen again,” followed by something to the effect that we must “respect that judgment and not react.” What the hell does that mean?
See, I’m not questioning Barack Obama’s blackness. I’m not likening him to any black man who cares more about the mighty dollar than our community. I’m questioning what Barack Obama can and can’t actually do in the oval office. He's a politician and has to play the game of a politician. When situations like this arise, I would love to see Obama with eyes of fire. I would love to see him make a joke out of our flawed judicial system. I would be elated to see him articulate the black struggle to the American people in a manner that is not as threatening as it is educational. I would love to see a black man who genuinely is hurt by how society treats minorities, stand up on national television and in so many words say “fuck that shit! That shit ain’t right!” (devoid of the curse words but filled with the same passion of course).
Obama can’t and will never ever be able to do that as president of this country. But I will still vote for him with the understanding that his contributions during his first four years are more inspirational to minorities than tangible.
Read the rest here.....
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/columns-editorials/id.1106The morning of April 25, 2008 was one that should have awakened the senses of America... more
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A judge acquitted three New York Police Department detectives of all charges Friday morning in the shooting death of an unarmed man in a 50-bullet barrage, hours before he was to be married.
Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora were found not guilty of charges of manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23, and the wounding of two of his friends.
Detective Marc Cooper was acquitted of reckless endangerment.
A judge acquitted three New York Police Department detectives of all charges Friday... more
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Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem streets on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot killing of a groom on his wedding day.
"We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians," Sharpton told several hundred people who packed the street-front hall of his National Action Network office. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell."Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem streets on Saturday after the Rev. Al... more
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New York City police officers accused of killing Sean Bell hours before his wedding in a hail of 50 bullets were acquitted on all charges.
Read the rest here....
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6812New York City police officers accused of killing Sean Bell hours before his wedding in... more
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VC2 producer Derek Koen explores the issue of police violence against unarmed black males, focusing specifically on the deaths of Amadou Diallo and Timmothy Thomas.VC2 producer Derek Koen explores the issue of police violence against unarmed black... more
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The detectives were found not guilty on all felony and misdemeanor charges in the November 2006 death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Queens.
The NYT's is doing a an hourly blog gauging the respsonse of New Yorkers. Al Sharpton is calling for peaceful protests.
Justice Arthur J. Cooperman, who delivered the verdict in State Supreme Court, said many of the prosecution’s witnesses, including Mr. Bell’s friends and the two wounded victims, were simply not believable. “At times, the testimony of those witnesses just didn’t make sense,” he said.
While his decision prompted several supporters of Mr. Bell to storm out of the courtroom, and there were a few small scuffles outside the courthouse, by late morning there no suggestions of any broader unrest around the city. Mr. Bell’s family members made no comment as they left, and they immediately drove to visit his grave at the Nassau Knolls Cemetery and Memorial Park in Port Washington.
The verdict comes 17 months to the day since the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting of Mr. Bell, 23, and his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, outside the Club Kalua in Jamaica, Queens, hours before Mr. Bell was to be married. The detectives were found not guilty on all felony and misdemeanor charges in the... more
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leahl
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"Three detectives were found not guilty Friday morning on all charges in the November, 2006, shooting death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Jamaica, Queens.
The verdict prompted several supporters of Mr. Bell to storm out of the courtroom, and screams could be heard in the hallway moments later. The verdict comes 17 months to the day since the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting of Mr. Bell, 23, and his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, outside the Club Kalua in Jamaica, Queens, hours before Mr. Bell was to be married."
More details to follow."Three detectives were found not guilty Friday morning on all charges in the... more
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