- 8,408
- 41
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2009
[h6][/h6]
[h6]By AL BAKER and JOHN ELIGON[/h6]Citing insufficient evidence, federal authorities said Tuesday thatthey would not bring a civil rights case against the New York Citypolice officers involved in the killing of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old black man who was shot by the police outside a strip club in Queens on his wedding day.
The decision by the Justice Department came after prosecutors andfederal agents reviewed the case, in which five police officers fired50 shots into the Nissan Altima that Mr. Bell was driving. The carstruck a detective in the leg and hit a police van just before theofficers began firing their weapons.
Mr. Bell was killed and two passengers, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, were wounded. None of the men had guns, although the police officers apparently believed at least one did.
In their review, officials from the Civil Rights Division of theJustice Department, the United States attorneyâs office for the EasternDistrict of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigationdid not find enough evidence to prove that the officers had willfullyacted to deny the men their constitutional rights, according to astatement from the Justice Department.
âNeither accident, mistake, fear, negligence, nor bad judgment issufficient to establish a federal criminal civil rights violation,â