50 Shots: A Video Report on the Sean Bell Protests

On April 25, the three NYPD detectives who killed bridegroom Sean Bell the night before his wedding and wounded his two friends were acquitted of all charges. The undercover officers, who had riddled Bell's car with 50 shots, claimed in court that they were scared by Bell and his friends, even though the men were unarmed and on their way home from a club. Detective Michael Oliver must have been especially frightened. He alone fired 31 shots, even stopping to reload on his way to killing Bell. Arthur Cooperman, a 78-year-old judge scheduled to retire next year (the cops were spared a jury of their peers), essentially ruled that the officers' supposed fear justified their indiscriminate firing of 50 shots at Bell and his unarmed friends.

The crowd that gathered outside the courtroom was stunned when the verdict was announced. Hours later, in the streets of Jamaica, Queens, where Sean Bell lived and died, marchers gathered almost spontaneously to vent their rage against the verdict and the epidemic of police brutality that has touched communities across New York City. As night descended, and the march detoured first to the site of Bell's killing, then to a housing project in South Jamaica, Queens, the crowd grew in size and in the intensity of its anger. Calls for violent retaliation against the police nearly became reality, as marchers surrounded vans filled with NYPD officers, forcing the police to withdraw from the streets and rely on aerial surveillance instead.

I attended the march with a cameraman by my side, and stayed until the end, well after the media had left, to report on the frustration that animated the march, and capture the drama that unfolded. Though the city has remained peaceful in the wake of last weekend's demonstrations, my video suggests that the heightened tension between residents of inner-city communities and cops may cross a dangerous threshold unless justice is done. With bold visual evidence, my coverage clearly contradicts the New York Times' careless contention that "the acquittals in the Bell case have so far been largely met with a muted response. Thousands of protesters did not fill the streets, no unrest ensued."

In my video, I also probed the Sean Bell verdict's impact on the presidential campaign. As my friend Roberto Lovato wrote last week, Barack Obama's "Failure to use his rhetorical gifts to speak forcefully to and about real black and non-black anger about the Sean Bell verdict may re-animate doubts about commitment to that part of his base that is not white middle- and working-class."

Sure enough, after Obama responded to an African-American reporter's question about the verdict with a boilerplate call for "com[ing] together," and stressed the need to respect Cooperman's decision, he received an angry phone call from Al Sharpton. Sharpton, who has pressed for a federal investigation into Bell's killing, reportedly accused Obama of seeking to "grandstand in front of white people." Though Sharpton has since denied attacking Obama, their alleged tiff highlights the quandary Obama faces as he looks to cultivate support among blue collar white voters while maintain his credibility in the black community.

I was proud to feature new music in my video by my friends for over a decade, the legendary live hip-hop band, Dujeous. Their song, "Eyewitness," which was inspired by Sean Bell's killing, features one of hip-hop's most incisive political rappers, Immortal Technique. Check it out.

Comments (21)

1. "Though the city has remained peaceful in the wake of last weekend's demonstrations, my video suggests that the heightened tension between residents of inner-city communities and cops may cross a dangerous threshold unless justice is done. With bold visual evidence, my coverage clearly contradicts the New York Times' careless contention that "the acquittals in the Bell case have so far been largely met with a muted response. Thousands of protesters did not fill the streets, no unrest ensued."

   Mr Blumenthal, despite "your video"....I'd say the Times was right, good or bad, weren't they?

   And Sharpton rather than "embarassing Obama into saying something more forceful"....was shown as impotent. (What happened to Al's "shut the city down" threat?)

   Posted by Mask at 05/02/2008 @ 9:39pm

2. is obama black enough?

   is obama too black?

   is obama too enough black?

   is obama too black enough black?

   Friday, May 2, 2008 9:58:12 PM

   Posted by frosty zoom at 05/02/2008 @ 9:53pm

3. guns, guns, guns.

   <i>Surveillance cameras at the Port Authority's Jamaica AirTrain station a half block away from the shooting site recorded one of the bullets fired by the officers shattering through the station's glass window and narrowly missing a civilian and two Port Authority patrolmen who were standing on the station's elevated platform.</i>

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   <i>Both Bloomberg and Kelly have also noted that the shooting was possibly in violation of department guidelines prohibiting shooting at a moving vehicle, even if the vehicle is being used as a weapon.</i>

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   2006 Five officers fired 50 shots at Sean Bell in Queens, New York, including 31 by one detective - who reloaded his weapon during the incident.

   2006 Three officers fired 26 shots at a pit bull that had bitten a chunk out of an officer's leg in the Bronx, New York in July.

   2005 Eight officers fired 43 shots at Brian Allen, an armed man, in Queens, New York killing him.

   2005 June, six Los Angeles County, California sheriff's deputies fired more than 50 shots into the car in which drunken driving suspect Carl Williams was driving, after his car rammed a police vehicle following a chase. One deputy had to reload his weapon during the incident.

   2004 "When 44-year-old drug suspect Winston Hayes' SUV lurched forward he hit a police car, deputies unloaded their weapons, firing 120 shots. Four bullets ended up hitting Hayes who survived, one hit a deputy sheriff, 11 hit patrol cars and 11 hit five homes in the neighborhood (one of them ended up tearing a hole in a homeowner's hat)." --ABC News.[7] 1999 Four officers fired 41 shots at Amadou Diallo, an unarmed man in the Bronx, New York on February 4, 1999.

   1998 New Jersey State Police fired 11 shots at Daniel Reyes and three other basketball players in their car in April.

   Friday, May 2, 2008 10:13:35 PM

   Posted by frosty zoom at 05/02/2008 @ 10:09pm

4. There have also been scores of civilians killed ­ including women, children and families at US military checkpoints across the country. Yet not a single soldier has been charged or disciplined in any of these cases, and the internal investigations have become a conveyor belt for exonerations.

   The recent killing of an Italian intelligence official and the wounding of an Italian journalist by U.S. forces in Baghdad highlights how out of control the climate of impunity has become. It should serve as a wake-up call to the dangerous reality faced daily by thousands of Iraqis and by unembedded journalists.

   On March 4, the car taking newly released hostage Giuliana Sgrena, a veteran war correspondent for Il Manifesto, was heading to the Baghdad airport. 'We thought we were finally safe, because the area where we were was under the control of the United States,' recalls Sgrena. 'But then suddenly we found ourselves under an immense amount of bullets, something terrible, without any warning, and we realized that nearby there was an American tank which was shooting at us.'

   http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0323-35.htm

   Friday, May 2, 2008 10:18:20 PM

   Posted by frosty zoom at 05/02/2008 @ 10:13pm

5. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/2/2008

   You are very gullible to take the word of an officer as absolute proof. My step dad was an officer. He said the white cops used to take black guys into alleys and beat them to near death and then have their partner corroborate a BS story about how they were attacked. You can't take the word of their partners you need actual proof from witnesses. The person who said he heard him say go get my gun was one of the cops not a witness and not their friend.

   Then he accelerates into a van which he couldn't have gone that far or else the cops would not have hit the car near as many times. Also I don't think anyone was IN the van so he wasn't putting anyones life in danger. If he accelerates the car you shoot out the tires you don't pump off 50 rounds indiscriminately in a civilian area where you can kill someone who is walking down the street. That is just stupid. Especially since according to frosty the rounds they fired almost killed passersby. You at the very least should have your badge taken away if you almost kill an innocent bystander to protect an empty van and if the van wasn't empty then you are even more of a moron because you also probably got close to killing the people in the van too.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/02/2008 @ 11:03pm

6. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/2/2008

   Those are some words to remember by the way direct from an ex-police officer. "Anything a cop can justify on paper, they can get away with."

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/02/2008 @ 11:04pm

7. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/2/2008

   Also those cops should have been breathalized. You don't start firing off a weapon into an urban neighborhood if you are drunk.

   A smart person knowing that the person he threatened is inside. Would have stood outside to see if he then got out of his car with a weapon. If he did THEN you act. If he sits down in his car and then proceeds to start to leave then you don't bother because there is more risk involved in discharging your weapon in an urban neighborhood and then you also screw up the massive amount of time you spend doing undercover work to build a case against this place because now they know there are cops there and they are going to stop until they are gone. It's just all around stupid what they did.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/02/2008 @ 11:09pm

8. http://tinyurl.com/6rabce

   Here are the testimonies of everyone from forensics to the officers involved to people in the surrounding neighborhood. Not only did bullets end up in the Airtram. 2 bullets in an SUV down the street and two more in a fence in front of a house. They found blood on one of the officers guns which means they were close enough to see if anyone in the car had a gun. Plus testimonies from witnesses don't fully corroborate what the cops said.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/02/2008 @ 11:22pm

9. ""Contagious shooting" refers to the phenomenon in which multiple officers will start shooting once one officer has opened fire -- even if no real threat is present. Experts say the reaction is a response to sudden fear."

   So... if judges exonerate based on fear, contagious shooting is legal by proxy.

   Posted by winyahn at 05/02/2008 @ 11:28pm

10. Blackwater patriot heroes... "The Iraqi government claims Blackwater contractors, who were guarding a U.S. diplomatic convoy, killed as many as 20 civilians in western Baghdad's Nisoor Square... the Iraqi governmental probe of the shooting said the Blackwater gunfire was unprovoked and random, killing and wounding several civilians."

    Fog of war... "Baghdad was being bombed. The civilians were trying to get out... "

    Post contagion blues: "Every car that we lit up we were expecting ammunition to go off. But we never heard any. Well, this particular vehicle we didn't destroy completely, and one gentleman looked up at me and said: "Why did you kill my brother? We didn't do anything wrong." That hit me like a ton of bricks."

    Posted by winyahn at 05/02/2008 @ 11:51pm

11. Posted by lvliberty1

    are you drunk?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/03/2008 @ 12:45am

12. What happened in the Sean Bell trial? Botched prosecution and bad witnesses. Plus the prosecution should have fought against a bench trial with all their muster. But in the end the judge found the prosecution witnesses less than credible. How there wasn't a lesser charge applied so at least some punishment could be meted out is beyond me. Losing their careers isn't enough.

    Posted by yutsano at 05/03/2008 @ 01:30am

13. I guess they don't want law and order or defense of the borders, just free healthcare, free education, free retirement, guaranteed middle class income, and a 30 hour work week with 5-6 weeks vacation and 18 paid holidays.

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/3/2008 |

    It's truly ironic that bettter schools and a livable wage would stop more crime than soldiers or police.

    Posted by koroviev at 05/03/2008 @ 01:56am

14. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/3/2008

    I notice you didn't include the first part where I said the exact same thing you said. Where I said IF they come back with a weapon then you disarm or kill them.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/03/2008 @ 2:02pm

15. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/3/2008

    Problem is you have the testimony of one person. If you look at 30 other people they didn't say the same thing that cops or that one person said. Even the guy he was arguing with said they didn't argue and then said that he never heard him say anything about a gun. Why are you focusing on the one person who affirmed the story rather than the 20 other people who didn't?

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/03/2008 @ 2:03pm

16. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/3/2008

    I don't trust the testimony of either side involved. The cops and the perps have too much to lose. I trust the people around them.

    "So, at least four of the remaining five people who were involved in the incident (not watching from a distance where you couldn't necessarily hear everything that was said) testified that at least one of the perps said, "Go get your gun.""

    You say this but above that you only say that 1 person said. The reason I don't trust the officer is because they stand to go to jail for this. Only a naive person would trust them just because they are cops. They stand to lose just as much as any other person on trial for murder. Did you trust O.Js testimony? I mean he was the one involved right. So according to you we should only trust the testimonies of those involved so if a witness only heard an argument they can't be trusted. If they heard gunshots they can't be trusted. So the only people who you are saying we can truly trust are the murderer and the victim because they are the only ones "involved"

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/03/2008 @ 6:47pm

17. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/3/2008

    I'm not arguing that the verdict was completely wrong but I am saying the officers should still be tried for discharging 50 rounds at a moving vehicle in an urban neighborhood. You should not have a badge if you act that stupidly. They almost killed at least 3 people who were not apart of the scene.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/03/2008 @ 6:49pm

18. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/3/2008

    On top of that IF Sean Bell was the one who said it and IF Sean Bell was driving the car why is it ok for the officers to have shot his friends who had no control over the situation? Would you want to get shot because your friend said something?

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/03/2008 @ 6:54pm

19. It's truly ironic that bettter schools and a livable wage would stop more crime than soldiers or police.

    Posted by koroviev

    hear! hear!

    Saturday, May 3, 2008 9:06:55 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/03/2008 @ 9:02pm

20. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/3/2008

    You're missing the point Sean Bell threatened them not his friends who also got pumped full of rounds.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/04/2008 @ 01:23am

21. That is what we get when we have highly trained law . That is what we get when we pay law officers poverty wages. That is what we get when judges are allowed to define what a rational reason is to arbitrarily execute another person. We have chosen to create billionaire who live in gated communities while the rest of us clean up their garbage and argue about weather a black pastor has the right to act white. how dare he think that he can preach white equivalency.

    Posted by julien38 at 05/04/2008 @ 11:52am