What is your opinion of the New York police acquittal?

Question

Were the officers justifiably acquitted?

Or was injustice done to the man who was shot to death?

Did the news media overplay the wedding day angle? He was coming out of a tawdry strip club at 4 a.m.....hardly wedding day behavior!

Answer 1

While I can understand situations arise where the police feel they're being threatened, and shoot an otherwise unarmed person.  It's tragic and aggravating, but it happens.  Usually, however, this only leads to the person getting shot a few times.

But 50 times?  And that's not considered "excessive force"?  Really?

One cop shot over 30 bullets (not sure how many times he actually hit anyone.)  That means he emptied his whole clip and reloaded.  THREE TIMES.

I don't care who the victims were here.  It's clear the cops here not only made a bad judgment call, but are also incapable of using their weapons in a proper manner.  No suspect should be shot 50 times.  Even if you're shooting to kill, that's 2, maybe 3 bullets max.  The cop who shot 30 bullets was clearly out of control.  You don't want someone like that on the streets - he's more of a danger to the people he's supposed to be protecting than to the criminals.

Seriously, I don't understand the verdict at all.

Answer 2

I learned this in the school of hard knocks

"... the police is always wrong..."

Answer 3

More proof that we don't have a justice system... it's more like a legal system.

Answer 4

justice was served..hope those family members don't get a dime in their stupid lawsuits

Answer 5

I think the bride is better off.

Answer 6

IT WAS HIS BACHELOR PARTY. What did those three men do that justified 50 + bullets into their bodies. How many bullets does it take to kill a person? Those detectives let mob mentality take over. I am surprised the judge didn't pat them on the back before they left court oh wait he did!

Answer 7

I find it funny that on CNN every time Wolf Blitzer reports on the Sean Bell verdict, that it's "Sean Bell, the BLACK man police gunned down outside a seedy N.Y. strip club". It should be "Sean Bell, the man who police shot in an altercation outside a N.Y.strip club." The media is totally sensationalizing the fact he was A. black and B. they're insinuating it was an act of malice on part of the police. Obviously, the court found it to be justifiable. Obviously, it wasn't race related, since 2 of the 3 officers were black. Do they report "White man shot by black cop"? Nope, because it's not relevant, just as it's not relevant in this case, too. The media also has been downplaying him ramming the police van. Interesting. Almost as if they're trying to incite civic unrest.

Answer 8

It was a forgone conclusion. By the way, having them justifiably acquitted and injustice done to the man killed are not mutually exclusive, especially in NYC. They must be allowed the right of self-defense, and mistakes will inevitably occur. In fact, though statistics are sketchy, it's about five times more likely the police will make this sort of error than an armed civilian will do so.

Keep in mind that from the administration of George Washington to that of James Polk, there was no police force, and even then they were modeled on London's unarmed Bobby's. It was assumed that unarmed police should call on the armed citizenry (the "well-regulated militia" of the second amendment) should arms be needed. Today, that's turned on its head, but still many subsets of modern society see an armed police force as a threat, as the founding fathers saw in their concerns about a standing army. As long as we hire local "Hessians" to be the armed segment of our governments, no matter whether at the local, state, or federal level, this feeling will persist, and that is probably the main factor in the higher error rate for police than civilians. New Yorkers, though, overwhelmingly favor this circumstance to the more reasonable and ethical position of the founding fathers, or of the NRA and other "gun nuts" today. Since they feel strongly about the sacrifice of guys like this victim, we're pretty well stuck with it.

Answer 9

People, wake up, this is reality and the only way to change it is by getting personally involve, otherwise, all you can do is shake your head and wake up tomorrow morning.