Sources: 3 cops indicted in N.Y. groom shooting

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

NEW YORK - The grand jury hearing the case of five officers who unleashed a 50-shot barrage in a deadly police shooting reached a decision Friday, the district attorney's office said.

Sources told WNBC-TV that three of the five — Marc Cooper, Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora — have been indicted.

The exact charges were not disclosed.

Oliver fired 31 shots in the incident, reloading and emptying his gun. Isnora fired 11 shots and Cooper fired four shots.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown scheduled an announcement for Monday on whether any of the officers will be charged in the case.

Anticipation has been running high around New York City about the grand jury's decision. Extra police officers were put on standby and the mayor met with black leaders in the Queens neighborhood where shooting occurred in hopes of defusing any tensions that might arise from the decision.

A 23-person grand jury is hearing the case, and 12 grand jurors needed to vote for an indictment for charges to be brought. The panel includes eight blacks, seven whites, and a mix of Hispanics and Asians.

"Whatever the grand jury says ... I think you will see the people of this city behaving in an exemplary manner," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday. "They can be disappointed, they can express themselves — that's freedom of speech, I don't have a problem with that. But nobody is going to go out and make our streets unsafe."

Last-minute witness

The secret grand jury proceedings took a strange twist when a last-minute witness emerged and testified Thursday before the grand jury that is deciding whether to charge the five officers in the deadly shooting of 23-year-old Sean Bell on his wedding day. Two of his friends were wounded.

The shooting that killed Bell stirred outrage around New York City and led to accusations of racism against the NYPD. Bell was black, as are two of his friends who were wounded in the shooting. Two of the officers are white, and three are black.

Peter St. George Davis, who represents the parents of Bell, said the last-minute witness has no credibility, has been known to investigators from the very beginning, and that investigators actually spoke to him months ago.

"This is not an 11th-hour situation in terms of a mystery witness like you would see on a 'Law and Order' episode," the lawyer said. "This witness was known to the NYPD."

"We believe this grand jury can give us justice," he added. "We would say that justice requires an indictment and prosecution."

While the credibility of the witness is not known, his testimony could aid the officers if he helps convince grand jurors that the officers were justified in opening fire.

Witness said to be working nearby

Detectives' Endowment Association President Michael Palladino said the witness was a 55-year-old man who went to a police station on Wednesday to say he had been working on the night of the shooting near the strip club where it occurred.

The witness told detectives he saw a man fire one or two shots at a police officer and then flee into a nearby building. The man also told detectives that he heard officers identifying themselves as police, said Palladino, who had been briefed on the situation by detectives.

"I don't know where this man came from," Palladino said. "But this guy could have a vital piece of information. ... The man told detectives that he didn't come forward sooner because he was afraid and overwhelmed."

Union representatives and lawyers for the officers have said their clients, who were conducting an undercover investigation at the strip club, became convinced Bell and his friends were going to retrieve a gun from a car parked after overhearing them argue with another patron. No gun was found.

Grand jurors had been instructed to consider several charges: second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide stemming from Bell's death; and attempted murder, assault or reckless endangerment in the wounding of survivors Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17648422/

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Good, I hope the pigs rot in jail for a very long time.

[almaty 19]

same here..just wrong and uncalled for..the bastards

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

same here. The Police should not be above the law.

[Heracles 417]

The problem I have is that people like cops and teachers seem to walk a very fine line while everyone else has no rules to follow and a billion BS rights protecting them. Just think of all of the ###### they have to deal with on a daily basis. How would you guys feel if your life was threatened or you where harassed and disrespected on a daily basis??

Edited March 18, 2007 by Infidel

[Heracles 417]

Quite sad how when unarmed police are slain, people are like yeah whatever..

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-0...al_N.htm?csp=34

Why would you not arm auxiliary police with weapons, especially in NYC..

[Sofiyya 1,687]

50 bullets. That's what hung 'em.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

  Infidel said:

Quite sad how when unarmed police are slain, people are like yeah whatever..

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-0...al_N.htm?csp=34

Why would you not arm auxiliary police with weapons, especially in NYC..

They should have had guns.