The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 71/No. 2           January 15, 2007  
 
 
N.Y. marchers protest cop brutality,
efforts to turn victims into criminals
(front page)
 
Militant/Dan Fein
1,000 march in Manhattan’s Wall Street December 21 against killing of Sean Bell.

BY DAN FEIN  
NEW YORK—Protests demanding justice for a 23-year-old worker gunned down by the cops November 26 continue here as police officials step up their campaign to turn the victims into the criminals.

More than 1,000 people marched in Manhattan’s financial district December 21 to protest the shooting. Chants included, “Who’s the number one enemy? NYPD!” and “50 shots—jail the cops!”

Sean Bell, an African-American who was unemployed at the time, was killed when cops opened fire as he and two friends left a Jamaica, Queens, nightclub. Five plainclothes policemen fired 50 shots at Bell, Trent Benefield, 23, and Joseph Guzman, 31, as the three sat in Bell’s car after celebrating his bachelor party. Benefield, shot three times, was released from the hospital December 5; Guzman, shot 16 times, is still recovering at a Jamaica hospital. All three men were unarmed, and the survivors and witnesses insist that the cops did not identify themselves before firing.

“I came to show support. It could have been me,” Ajani Tudor, 14, a student at John Dewey High School, told the Militant at the December 21 protest. “It’s not right for Blacks to be killed like this.”

“It’s not over,” said Jermaine, 25, who asked that his last name not be used. “We got to get the cops arrested and tried and a speedy conviction.”

The day before, 100 people gathered near the shooting site. Many workers passing by on their way home joined the rally at the busy Jamaica intersection. Juanita Young, whose son Malcolm Ferguson was killed by cops in 2001, and Margarita Rosario, whose son and nephew were gunned down by police in 1995, both spoke at the action.

On January 1, several dozen of Bell’s friends and relatives began a 50-day vigil outside the 103rd police precinct in Queens.

“We are looking to see an indictment,” said Bell’s cousin Kinglarry Crawford. “It doesn’t matter if you have a badge … if you are a criminal, you need to be indicted.”

As protests persist, cops have continued their slander campaign against the victims. Police officials announced December 22 that Bell’s blood-alcohol level at the time of his death was above the 0.08 percent limit for driving in New York State. “If the reports are true, his judgment was impaired,” said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA). “His behavior was reckless and life-threatening to the officer he hit.”

Palladino was referring to the cops’ claim that Bell’s car hit a detective and then an unmarked police van before the cops began shooting. Eyewitnesses and a preliminary police report contradict this story, explaining that Bell began driving only after the cops opened fire on his car.

“No matter what his blood-alcohol level was, he is a victim,” said Bell family attorney Sanford Rubenstein.

On December 29, a judge threw out a 2005 disorderly conduct and trespassing summons against Benefield due to lack of evidence. The day before, Benefield and five others were arrested in a police gambling raid in Harlem. Benefield denies he was gambling. Meanwhile, the DEA has launched a campaign asking the public to “withhold judgment” until an official investigation has been completed. A grand jury has been convened.

In a related development, a cop was suspended for 30 days without pay December 29 for “failing to safeguard his gun” when he killed 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury in January 2004. Phyllis Clayburne, Stansbury’s mother, condemned the “very light penalty.”

“That’s why they do what they do, because they know they can get away with it,” she said.
 
 
Related articles:
New Jersey: Protesters condemn cop brutality
Florida cops kill young Black man  
 
 
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