Tapsearch Com EditorGrand jury indicts NYPD officers in Bell shooting
March 21st 2007 02:19
A grand jury decided several police officers should stand trial for shooting a man outside a strip club. Two face charges of felony manslaughter, a third of reckless endangerment.
Grand jury proceedings are closed to the public, so there isn't much analysis to offer at this point.
The story has a good summary of the two sides' positions:
"Guzman, Benefield and other members of the bachelor party claim they were on their way home after the party when the officers began firing without provocation.
"The officers assert through their lawyers that Bell and his friends, who had argued with another patron, were retrieving a gun from a parked car when police encountered them outside the club.
"When one of the officers approached Bell's car, it lurched forward and bumped the officer, then twice rammed an unmarked police minivan, prompting the officers to open fire, the NYPD says.
"The officers fired a total of 50 shots. Benefield, Guzman and Bell were seriously wounded, and Bell later died at a hospital.
"The men who were shot were not armed."
I also blogged about this case here.
By Robert VerBruggen
Grand jury proceedings are closed to the public, so there isn't much analysis to offer at this point.
The story has a good summary of the two sides' positions:
"Guzman, Benefield and other members of the bachelor party claim they were on their way home after the party when the officers began firing without provocation.
"The officers assert through their lawyers that Bell and his friends, who had argued with another patron, were retrieving a gun from a parked car when police encountered them outside the club.
"When one of the officers approached Bell's car, it lurched forward and bumped the officer, then twice rammed an unmarked police minivan, prompting the officers to open fire, the NYPD says.
"The officers fired a total of 50 shots. Benefield, Guzman and Bell were seriously wounded, and Bell later died at a hospital.
"The men who were shot were not armed."
I also blogged about this case here.
By Robert VerBruggen
| 44 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
