How can a cop be acquited when he empties his pistol into an unarmed man

[nosmokes]

reloads and keeps shooting? WTF is wrong w/ the judge? He needs to be impeached.

original-nyc.indymedia

Three Cops Acquitted In Killing of Sean Bell

At Queens courthouse, judge presiding over the Sean Bell trial acquitted NYPD officers of all counts

By NYC IMC

NEW YORK - Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

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complete article here

[stray cat]

1. Supposedly the car they were driving was attempting to run an officer down

and there had been talk of getting in the car to get his gun following an argument in the bar.

[Catherine Vincent]

2. This is an example of the "God damn America!" that Rev. Wright was speaking of. nt

[BlooInBloo]

7. Yup.

[Hydra]

3. The law is what they say it is

welcome to the new reality. Good luck surviving it.

[lpbk2713]

4. *It was an accident.*

"Yeah. That's the ticket."

[BlooInBloo]

5. It's only indeed a mystery to racism-deniers. Fucking cops.

[dysfunctional press]

6. which ones were black, and which ones were white?

that might give you your answer.

[KamaAina]

14. Two of the cops are, in fact, black.

So, basically, their training tells them to treat all members of their own race, particularly young males, as criminals until proven otherwise. :eyes:

[goclark]

22. Basically their training does just that ~

And many AA that become police are people that believe that "you must follow the rules" of the setting.
Thus ~ they aren't trained to look at race,they are trained to "protect and to serve the establishment."

[cloudbase]

8. The judge decided

based on the evidence presented. It may be a case of incompetent prosecutors. Not a whole lot different than the O.J. case.

Let's face it-it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the best of the law school graduates don't generally wind up working as prosecutors.

[elehhhhna]

9. Maybe he shot one of those super-lucky black men we keep hearing about.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

17. Yep. He was probably going to steal the presidency from a more deserving white woman someday. nt

[stillcool]

10. We are already gone

[alarimer]

11. Because judges and prosecutors will be on the cop's side.

More often than not. With a jury, they probably would have been convicted.

[laylah]

12. Because he can? Who the hell knows! nt

[Thickasabrick]

13. This really disgusted me - I hope there are other avenues of

recourse for the victim's family and family "to have been". I agreed with Sharpton for once - "this wasn't a miscarriage of justice, it was an abortion".

[bigwillq]

15. I was outraged by the verdict.

:mad: We all should be. There's no one one has to take 50 shots..either the cop is a horrible shooter or he really wanted to kill this man. :mad:

[Pineywoods Sam]

16. I heard of this for the first time today.

And I don't know any details. But for one man to shoot at another 31 times -- seems excessive.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

18. A lot of jurors are just really unwilling to convict a cop, no matter what.

It's a big problem for defense attorneys.

[AZ Criminal JD]

20. No jury in this case.

If it is a problem it is a problem for prosecutors not defense attorneys. The cops were on trial - remember?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

19. I'm sorry, it takes me about 1/2 of an hour at the range

to shoot 50 rounds. If nobody is shooting back at you, and as I understand it, no one was, what possible excuse could you have for discharging 50 rounds of ammunition? I happen to love my guns and support our right to keep and bear arms but something about this incident just stinks!

[AZ Criminal JD]

21. The car was coming at them.

The groom had said he was going to get his gun in the car. So you take your half hour as the car flies into you.

[nosmokes]

23. The cops never heard the gun comment, and witness testimony disputes

that the groom and his pals ever tried to run down the pigs (who hadn't identified themselves as cops) until after the shooting started, and they stationed themselves in front of the car. Maybe if once every decade or so NY's finest unloaded thirty, forty, fifty rounds in an innocent unarmed white Wall St. trader or lawyer or something then i wouldn't be so sure it's an institutional systemic racism. But seeing as how that's never happenened, I'm fairly confident in stating that if these guys had been white they'd be alive an the fact the judge let'em walk is a travesty of justice.

[stirlingsliver]

24. Racism

Sadly, racism is still rampant in our country.

The judge's verdict in this case merely confirms that fact.