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Title: Sharpton vows to 'close this city' after officer acquittals
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URL Source: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080426/D909P8SG0.html
Published: Apr 27, 2008
Author: VERENA DOBNIK
Post Date: 2008-04-27 10:33:49 by Jethro Tull
Keywords: None
Views: 507
Comments: 7
Sharpton vows to 'close this city' after officer acquittals 32;Email this Story Apr 26, 4:42 PM (ET) By VERENA DOBNIK NEW YORK (AP) - 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. "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 an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell." Sharpton was joined by the family of 23-year-old Sean Bell - a black man - and a friend of Bell who was wounded in the 2006 shooting outside a Queens strip club. Two of the three officers charged were also black. The rally at Sharpton's office was followed by a 20-block march down Malcolm X Boulevard and then across 125th Street, Harlem's main business thoroughfare, where some bystanders yelled out "Kill the police!" Fifty of the marchers carried white placards bearing big black numbers for each of the police bullets fired at Bell and his friends. Sharpton urged people to return for a meeting this coming week "to plan the day that we will close this city down" with the kind of "massive civil disobedience" once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "They never accused Sean Bell of doing anything. Then why is he dead?" Sharpton asked, his voice roaring with anger. Authorities "have shown now that they will not hold police accountable. Well, guess what? If you won't, we will!" "Shut it down! Shut it down!" the crowd chanted, standing up and applauding wildly. Sharpton didn't say exactly how they would protest the acquittals of the officers who fired the 50 shots. He said Bell's supporters could demonstrate all over the city, from Wall Street to the home of Justice Arthur Cooperman, who on Friday acquitted the three detectives after a nonjury trial. Sitting behind Sharpton as he spoke were Bell's parents, his sister and Nicole Paultre Bell, who took her fiance's name after his death. "The justice system let me down," Paultre Bell told the crowd in a soft voice. "April 25, 2008: They killed Sean all over again. That's what it felt like to us." It was her first public comment since she stormed out of a courtroom Friday after the NYPD detectives were cleared in Bell's killing as he left his bachelor party. One of Bell's companions, Joseph Guzman, also spoke briefly on Saturday, saying: "We've got a long fight."
Poster Comment: This doesn't help Obama with middle America.
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#2. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
had all three been white, there would already be riots. i'm wondering why the officers were acquitted when the victims were at a wedding and unarmed.
Curtis Sliwa (Guardian Angel guy) was on the toob the other day and said, the full story is not reported in the press. Now I don't know who this guy is, but he said that as the bachelor party broke up about 4am, and the 'strippers' were to be paid, negotiation for additional 'services' took a bad turn... the bachelors thought they paid for 4 girls, pimp said 2 and wanted his money.. things got heated, one of the party members said to get the gun (from the car I guess), and when the pimp reached inside his coat for his gun, all hell broke loose. Apparently there were undercover cops at the strip club that alerted other police in the area of the situation brewing.. so when the pimp pulled the gun, the undercover guys supposedly swooped in and the firing started. I still don't see how this fills in all the gaps here, but it's more than I had heard before. Also heard that Rev. Al has said that the cops played the race card by having black attorneys, and that was to nullify the jury or something. Crazy story.
yep, it helps.
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestTwo of the three officers charged were also black.
#5. To: christine (#2)
had all three been white, there would already be riots. i'm wondering why the officers were acquitted when the victims were at a wedding and unarmed.
#6. To: Peppa (#5)
I still don't see how this fills in all the gaps here, but it's more than I had heard before.
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