For protesting police brutality
Sean Bell arrestees found ‘guilty’
By
Dolores Cox
New York
Published Oct 16, 2008 9:55 PM
The tragic death of Sean Bell revisited New York City recently. This past Oct.
6, eight of the remaining protesters went to trial in a Manhattan courtroom for
their participation in the protest of the New York Police Department’s
killing of Sean Bell as he was driving a car.
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News conference after eight people were found guilty for having protested the
verdicts in the Sean Bell case. From left: Joseph Guzman, Attorney Wylie
Stecklow, Rev. Al Sharpton, Sara Flounders, Trent Benefield, Manijeh Saba,
Anthony Estes and Donna Gould.
WW photo: Dolores Cox
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On Nov. 25, 2006, the morning of Bell’s impending wedding, NYC police
shot 50 bullets into Bell’s car. In addition to killing Bell, they also
wounded Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman. None of the three men was armed. New
York City has a history of its police targeting Blacks and Latin@s in the form
of racial profiling and killings.
People in New York City and nationally were outraged by the April 25 verdict
acquitting all the officers of every charge in the shooting. On May 7, in New
York City and elsewhere people expressed their extreme anger. Many hundreds
took to the streets in a mass traffic action out of deep frustration and
desperation, surrounded by thousands of supporters.
The protest action blocked bridges and tunnels at several different locations
within New York City. The action, initiated by the National Action Network, was
well organized. Approximately 250 participants, including this reporter, were
subsequently arrested for civil disobedience.
The bulk of those arrested had their cases adjourned in contemplation of
dismissal at a later date. However, the Rev. Al Sharpton; Sara Flounders,
International Action Center co-director; and six others were among the
activists singled out for trial on Oct. 6th. One of the arrestees had himself
been a victim of a brutal police attack.
Judge Larry Stephen, a former district attorney, refused to accept their
“Not guilty—Necessity Defense” plea, and they were declared
guilty. In essence, the Necessity Defense motion for dismissal argued that the
conduct of the protesters was justifiable and not criminal.
The motion also argued that the desirability and urgency of avoiding further
police misconduct and violence should outweigh the civil disobedience offense
of blocking traffic; that there were no adequate legal means to prevent further
police brutality; that there was an immediate need to break the pattern of
police killings; and that the arrestees felt they had no other recourse against
the precipitating injustices than the action they took.
On Oct. 8, all eight defendants were sentenced to “time already served in
jail” and fined $95 each. Benefield, Guzman and Sean Bell’s
fiancée, Nicole Bell, were in the courtroom. Despite no one going to jail,
it was another example of justice being denied to the people.
In Flounders’ statement to the court she pointed out that “When the
protesters’ defense of ‘justified necessity’ has no basis and
the police’s long record and pattern of attacks is not relevant to the
protesters’ actions, it only confirms the pervasiveness of police
misconduct and that the courts have lost the ability to hear the rising
anger.
“The traffic action by the many hundreds of people,” she added,
“was a polite reminder to the powers in NYC of the people’s
ability, in response to deep grievances, to bring the city to a halt, even if
just for minutes. It also shows the enormous power and potential that people
have when they are mobilized. None of us are guilty. The police guilt is what
stands. While the police are found ‘not guilty’ there is no
justice.”
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