Analyzing 50 Shots: No Easy Explanations in the Sean Bell Trial

About a year and a few months ago, I visited a somber site in South Jamaica, Queens, right off Sutphin Blvd., about 200 yards from where the E, J, and Z subway lines meet and where you can get the AirTrain to Kennedy International Airport.

It was a cold night on that lonely corner of Liverpool and 94th Ave., and I was the last one there, having covered a protest demonstration that wound through the neighborhood. As night fell, a few people walked by from the train station and passed by a shrine to a young man who two weeks earlier was supposed to have been married to his girlfriend.

But instead, in a hail of at least 50 bullets fired by New York City policemen, a young man took the final breaths of his short life. And when the smoke cleared, everyone had a version of what happened, everyone took sides and everyone had an opinion.

But the only one who knew the truth, was 23-year-old Sean Bell, who in the bullet rain, took his last breath just a few hours before he was to be married. And the truth is buried with him somewhere in Long Island.

I won't go into the intricate details about the shooting of Bell. New York media has actually done a well-extended job of covering the case, particularly in the beginning. If you were one of the people leaving Club Kalua on that night and saw the bullets flying, then you don't have to be reminded.

For a breakdown, check out this New York Times graphic explaining the testimonies. As for everyone else, you can Google it.

What I'm here to talk about is the ramifications of cops emptying clips into a human being, and I'll be doing it in subsequent posts.

The trial, which started Monday is a bench trial, that began with testimony from Bell's fiance', Nicole Paultre-Bell (she changed her name after his death), and testimony from other witnesses. The fact that it has no jury is a smart move on the part of the prosecution and the defense because it would drag it out for months on end, and create a media circus around it similar to the trial in the police shooting of Amadou Diallo.

But the proceedings are being held in Queens instead of being taken to another venue, which is probably of some solace to Bell's family. The Diallo trial was moved to Albany, a notoriously ultra-conservative, pro-cop town, and it resulted in an acquittal for the four policemen who shot him to death while unarmed.

What's deep to me is that the NYPD is acting very Giuliani about this thing. When Diallo was shot, then-mayor Rudy Giuliani (who has since deservedly washed out as a presidential candidate), acted like he deserved it. Department policy has been similar ever since. Correct me if I'm wrong, but while the Policeman's Benevolent Association has coddled the accused cops, they have not made one effort since the shooting to reach out to Bell's family.

Patrick Lynch, the head of the union has been particularly cold and unfeeling because while he extols the cops' responsibility "to protect everyone" he does not acknowledge that something may have gone wrong that night.

All this makes clear that the trial, whatever its outcome, will only serve to distance the black community further from the New York Police Department. If those cops are found guilty, people will hate the NYPD. If they are acquitted, people will hate the NYPD even more. There's gotta be something wrong when it takes a trial -- again -- to illustrate the disconnect with the cops and the community.

Was the shooting an accident? No, it was clearly deliberate. In fact one of the officers on trial stopped to reload his firearm. I'm told by people at the trial that the policeman, Det. Mike Oliver, will definitely take the stand, although it is unclear whether the other two accused officers Detectives Gescard Isnora and Mike Cooper will.

So many will say this is a case of race but that is only part of it. Yes, Sean Bell is one of several over the years in New York who have innocently died at the hands of cops. And uncannily, it seems that every time someone in NYC dies this way, it's always a black male.

But the ironic part of this is, Bell's killers are a multicultural cadre of law enforcement. Black, brown and white blasted on Bell that night. So we can't even say it's white cops vs. black victims as it was in the Rodney King case. At the same time, being good friends with many cops myself, I can't generalize about all policemen being hell-bent neo-Gestapo fascists.

So far, testimony from Bell's father, a stripper and a bouncer at the club points to this being a complete incompetent bungle of police procedure. But if it was a bungle, does that mean that Bell's family does not get justice?

So my whole point here is that while I'm pissed that this even happened, it is not exactly easy to point the finger one way or the other. I don't however feel that just a few scapegoat cops should get pinched...this is a top down thing where LOTS of people should be probed for why things like this keep happening.

I'll be back with more in a few days. In the meantime ... what do you think?