POLICE KILLINGS, How would Flint handle the controversey?

POLICE KILLINGS, How would Flint handle the controversey?
____________________________
GOOD MORNING FLINT!
BY Terry Bankert 3/03/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
You are invited to join me at Face Book
http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362
___________________________
Full article at:
http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com

Summarized article on Flint Talk:
http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=25775#25775


Inez Brown comment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsnzt3Ufy-4

___________________

“Police!”[NYT]

BACHELOR PARTY AND BULLETS

If the following chain of events occured in Flint MI USA, are we up to the challenge as a community to expect and demand a fair hearing? If the NY officers are exonerated, found not guilty, will there be community protests. With the same facts would there be protests in Flint? Flint Police, Genesee Prosecutor, Flint Ombudsman, City and Community leaders are you capable of fairly reacting to these facts if they occured in Flint? Why talk about it in Flint if it has not happened? I remember reading stories about intersection deaths that result in a new traffic stop to save lives and wondered why our leader could not analyize these saftey concerns before a tragedy. Here I argue why not review in Flint our policies, procedures and accountability systems before there is an alledged police brutality death? Why not?[trb]

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM NEW YORK CITY

On the night of the bachelor party, the undercover detectives were responding to complaints about prostitution at the Kalua Cabaret. They claim they fired their guns into Bell's car only after Isnora identified himself as a police officer, and after the car nearly ran him over and smashed head-on into an undercover police van [W]
That single word is playing an increasing role in the trial of three detectives charged in the killing of Sean Bell, as prosecutors seek to prove that the detectives did not identify themselves as police officers before they opened fire.[NYT]

I WONDER WHAT IS THE POLICY IN FLINT ON IDENTIFICATION BEFORE SHOOTING?

In his opening statement, Queens prosecutor Charles Testagrossa pointed out that the detectives didn’t properly identify themselves as police before brandishing weapons and opening fire. Testagrossa said the detectives’ conduct “was carelessness verging on incompetence.”[WW]

WHAT WERE THE DEPARTMENTAL POLICIES THAT WERE VIOLATED BY INCOMPETENCE? WHAT ARE FLINT’S POLICIES?

It’s clear, however, that the district attorney’s office has no plans to raise more serious and relevant issues, like the racist New York Police Department’s occupation of oppressed communities and its shoot-first, ask-questions-later stance toward people of color.[WW]

The detective was steps behind Isnora as he tailed Bell's group from the club, down Liverpool St., and to their car just before the 23-year-old groom-to-be fell in a 50-bullet barrage. [D]

The 50-shot barrage that killed an unarmed bridegroom outside his bachelor party came without warning and was over in matter of seconds, the police shooters' commander testified Friday[W]

POLICE WANTED TO MOVE THE CASE OUT OF TOWN.

Detectives Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, and Mark Cooper pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment. The cops had tried to get a change of venue outside New York City, hoping that a mostly-white upstate jury would vindicate them—a tactic used successfully in previous police brutality cases.[WW]

WHEN LEFT IN NY THE POLICE DO NOT WANT A JURY OF PEERS, BUT A JUDGE ONLY.

At the defendants' request, the case is being heard by a judge and not a jury.[W]

THE VICTEM DIES ON HIS WEDDING DAY.

A key question emerged after the first week of testimony in the trial of three detectives charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man on his wedding day: Did the officers identify themselves before opening fire? [N]

COPS DID NOT HEAR THE OTHER COPS YELL!

On Friday, the commanding officer of the undercover police unit that confronted Mr. Bell on Nov. 25, 2006, Lt. Gary Napoli, testified that he did not hear the detective who fired first, Gescard F. Isnora, yell, “Police!” Nor did he hear any of the other officers, including the other two on trial, Detectives Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper, shout the word, he said.[NYT]

DEAD GUYS FRIENDS DID NOT HEAR THE COPS YELL POLICE

While similar claims have been made by Mr. Bell’s friends, who were around the corner, and by an exotic dancer who said she saw the shooting, Lieutenant Napoli’s was the first such testimony in the trial from a fellow officer.

YO, GET MY GUN

The undercover cop who said he heard someone shout, "Yo, get my gun," moments before
Sean Bell died in a hail of police bullets could take the stand Monday. [D]

Detective Hispolito Sanchez, who worked with detectives Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper in Kalua Cabaret on Nov. 25, 2006, will be the first undercover cop to testify about what went on inside the club. He would also be the first officer to describe firsthand the feud between Bell and the driver of the black SUV parked in front of the seedy Queens strip joint where Bell was having his bachelor party. [D]

The defense has said Isnora witnessed the standoff and -- convinced that Bell and two friends were going to his car to retrieve a weapon -- followed them on foot as the police van and another unmarked vehicle carrying Napoli converged.[W]

NO BADGES WORN ,42 SHOTS FIRED

He also testified that he did not remember whether Detective Isnora or Detective Oliver, who fired 42 shots between them, were wearing their badges.[NYT]

I YELLED POLICE,....

Detective Isnora testified before a grand jury that he shouted, “Police!” lawyers said in their opening statements last week. [NYT]
Defense lawyers sought to question whether the lieutenant could have heard the shout. [NYT]

VICTEM WAS A BAD DRIVER

At the time, Lieutenant Napoli was in the passenger seat of an unmarked car traveling south on Liverpool Street, away from Mr. Bell’s parked car, as Detective Isnora approached it. Mr. Bell sped from the curb, hitting Detective Isnora in the leg and ramming Detective Oliver’s unmarked van before reversing, hitting a wall and ramming the van again. [NYT]

Detective Hispolito Sanchez, who worked with detectives
Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper in Kalua Cabaret on Nov. 25, 2006, will be the first undercover cop to testify about what went on inside the club. He would also be the first officer to describe firsthand the feud between Bell and the driver of the black SUV parked in front of the seedy Queens strip joint where Bell was having his bachelor party. [D]

Sanchez told investigators he was one of the two detectives close enough to overhear Joseph Guzman threaten the SUV driver in an angry faceoff, saying, "Yo, get my gun," according to a police report written the day of the shooting. [D]
The detective was steps behind Isnora as he tailed Bell's group from the club, down Liverpool St., and to their car just before the 23-year-old groom-to-be fell in a 50-bullet barrage. [D]

Sanchez was the first undercover to enter Kalua, about 1 a.m. It was his job to scout out patrons who might recognize Isnora from his prostitution bust at Kalua the week before, a police report said. [D]

Sanchez fired no shots that night, because he had left behind his gun, his badge and his bulletproof vest in order to enter Kalua undetected, his commanding officer testified last week. He faces no charges. [D]

Isnora, who fired 11 times, faces manslaughter charges. Cooper, who fired four times, faces misdemeanor reckless endangerment charges. [D]

All Sanchez had was his cell phone, which he used to communicate with the other undercovers and provide regular updates to Lt. Gary Napoli, the unit leader that night.[D]

Napoli testified Isnora became increasingly "frantic," warning his boss, "It's getting hot on Liverpool, for real." As this was happening, Sanchez was close by chatting up a club dancer, identified by sources as Marseilles (Trini) Payne. He was using her for cover, sources said. [D]

Lt. Gary Napoli's testimony was the first from a police officer to echo what other witnesses had said _ that on a confused Nov. 25, 2006, when 23-year-old Sean Bell was killed in a 50-bullet barrage, the detectives who opened fire outside the Kalua Cabaret never identified themselves. [N]


Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges, while Detective Marc Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment. [N]

Napoli, 50, was not charged, but prosecutors say the lieutenant helped author a "tale of carelessness verging on incompetence." [N]

Besides Napoli, the first week of testimony in the trial included eyewitness accounts from an exotic dancer at the club, Bell's father and a strip club regular, Harold "Bones" James, who said he helped organize the bachelor party that brought Bell to the club with a group of friends. [N]

Napoli told the New York Post Saturday that he was "able to block any outside emotion" when he testified in the trial. [N]

It is unclear if Sanchez saw Isnora step in front of Bell's car and open fire. [D]

WHEN THINGS GOT HOT THE TOP GUY DUCKED FOR COVER

At the moment of the initial shots, the lieutenant had ducked down in his seat to find a police dome light for his unmarked car, he said. He first heard what sounded like two vehicles collide, followed by gunshots. Believing the police were under fire, he remained crouched in the seat, he said. [NYT]
From here in the cheap seats, the case appears to be coming apart at the seams, with witnesses constantly tripping themselves up.[NYP]
On Thursday, two of Bell's friends told the judge that as the party broke up, the guest of honor exchanged glares and insults with an unidentified man dressed in black and possibly armed. The stranger, they said, struck a menacing pose by putting his hand in one pocket.[W]

Bell’s fiancée, Nicole Paultre-Bell, gave tearful testimony inside the courtroom, noting that she last saw him “in the morgue” on what should have been their wedding day. Bell was also a father of two.[WW]

But a source sympathetic to the defense told me the men are "genuinely scared and genuinely upset" about Bell's death. Isnora "goes home every day and sits in front of ESPN." [NYP]

"They know their lives have changed forever," the source said. [NYP]
This was supposed to be a case about racist cops shooting a black man for no good reason. [NYP]

But after a week, the only witnesses have been ex-cons, New York's "second best" pole-dancing stripper, plus a police lieutenant who ordered his men to "Move in!" - then hid in his car rather than risk getting shot. [NYP]

Even so, it's no sure thing these men will walk. [NYP]

The case was supposed to be about race. But from the get-go, the defense knocked that down. Isnora is African-American, as is Cooper. Oliver is of Syrian descent - which would make even the Rev. Al Sharpton define him as a person of color. [NYP]
This case was supposed to be about guys enjoying Bell's bachelor party, before gunshots forever silenced the fun. [NYP]

But Bell's pals described the Kalua club as a joint chockablock with hookers, drug dealers and sleazy exotic dancers who coerce patrons into buying them overpriced drinks. [NYP]

Stripper Marseilles Payne testified she watched as a colleague was slapped in the face by a male customer, behavior that's tolerated there. Bell's felonious crew watched men threaten one another with guns. [NYP]

"These witnesses are sporting felony drug convictions like they're MVP awards," cracked Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association. [NYP]
We heard from Lt. Gary Napoli, the ranking officer who barricaded himself inside his car when things got hot - and did not hear cops shout, "Police." [NYP]
Justice Arthur Cooperman might punish Oliver for firing 31 of the 50 shots - although it may have taken less than 10 seconds. And Cooper's shot hit a train station, where a bystander could have been struck. [NYP]

In the end, the judge alone will decide whether to make the tragic death of Sean Bell a whole lot worse by taking down these cops. [NYP]

A BEAR IN THE WOODS

On cross-examination, a defense lawyer, Anthony L. Ricco, asked about his having not heard any shout. “Because you didn’t hear it,” he said, “does that mean it wasn’t done?”[NYT]

“No,” Lieutenant Napoli replied. [NYT]

THE PASSENGERS TALK NEXT

Mr. Bell’s two friends in the car that morning, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, are expected to testify that Detective Isnora did not identify himself before firing. [NYT]

A prayer vigil led by the Rev. Al Sharpton preceded the opening of the trial. Later, community members and activist groups organized a picket line, held signs, drummed and chanted, “Remember Sean Bell,” “No justice, no peace,” and “Death to police terrorism.” The New York Times falsely reported the latter’s demand as “fringe groups’ call for violence against the police.”[WW]
Groups participating in the protest included People’s Justice Coalition, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the New Black Panther Party, the National Action Network and the International Action Center.[WW]

How would our public and community institutions and leaders be acting had this happened in Flint. I for one would look to the Flint Ombudsmans office.[trb]

Posted here by
Terry Bankert 3/3/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
Join my political party of preference
http://www.michigandems.com/join.html

—where did this stuff come from----


[NYT]
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/nyregion/03police.html

[D]
New Yprk Dailey News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/03/03/2008-03-03_undercover_cop_present_at_night_of_bell_-1.html


[N]
Newsday.com
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--policeshooting0303mar03,0,4457804.story

[NYP]
New York Post
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03032008/news/columnists/brave_faces_of_scared_cops_100266.htm

[trb]
Comments of Terry Bankert to include all cap headings.
http://attorneybankert.com/

[W]
WNBC
http://www.wnbc.com/news/15449032/detail.html

[ww]
Workers World
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/sean_bell_0306/

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