I Could Have Been Sean Bell

DiversityInc.com ^ | 25 Apr | Daryl Hannah

[Eye On The Left]

After listening to Al Sharpton, I thought, Sean Bell and those in his car had been delivering hot meals and medicine to the elderly when they were shot by police...

LOL!

[Eye On The Left]

Rarely? Rarely?
The press never shuts up about it!

And in nearly every case it turns out that they were flat wrong. That it was neither intentional homicide or race motivated. But people like Al 'uh uh' Sharpton and Rev-olutionary Jesse Jackass couldn't care less about the truth in these matters.

[enough_idiocy]

This article’s attitude toward police explains why inner cities struggle finding people to serve, and, consequently, the citizens suffer at the hands of violent thugs and their communities remain sh*tholes. Not a peep about the poor decisions these people made that put themselves in a position to be shot by the police in the first place. Going to a known prostitution strip club. Fighting. Making verbal threats about getting a gun. Driving at a cop. Not a peep. Poor me.

The tragedy is that both sides exercised poor judgment, but this author can only find fault in one. Thus, he contributes to the perpetual cycle of violence in urban communities that will not cease until people can recognize the error of their ways on both sides of the issue.

[GingisK]

Why not Richard Cory?

[untrained skeptic]

I didn’t know there was a gun in Bell’s car.

One wasn't found. However, according to witnesses one of the members of Bell's group (Guzman) had said he was going to get his gun after a loud altercation with some people in another car, and the police who had been staking out the area followed them back to Bell's car.

So they had reason to believe there was a gun in Bell's car.

Bell hit one of the officer's leg, and rammed the police van that was blocking his way. Bell backed up quickly and took another run at the van. During this, one of the officers though he saw Guzman reach for a gun, yelled gun, and started firing. The other officers joined in either because of the gun or because Bell had already struck an officer with his car and was trying to ram his way out of where he was blocked in.

Read the verdict statement from the Judge. Bell sure doesn't sound like a victim to me. The officers in hindsight might have handled things without shooting Guzman, but shooting Bell was justified by his use of the car as a weapon regardless of if there was a gun or not.

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/bell_verdict_statement.pdf

[ProfessorGage]

I agree. Shooting sounds more than reasonable here. I just get a tad suspicious whenever I hear the old “It looked like he was reaching for a gun,” routine.

[shhrubbery!]

I could have been Sean Bell. As a 23-year-old Black man living on the outskirts of New York City, I'm the same age and race as Bell, and I've likely walked some of the same streets he walked in his 23 years.

Daryl, you could not "have been Sean Bell" ... UNLESS you were heading off to boink a prostitute (as one of a foursome)

and gotten in an argument with the whore's pimp in the parking lot

of a seedy joint where alcohol, drugs, and human flesh were served.

[Tymesup]

“In each of these cases, some police officers directly involved received probation or had their charges overturned”

While this may be a true statement by Ms. Hannah, it is also a misleading one. In the Louima case, Volpe and Schwarz were sentenced to 30 and 15 years, respectively. Volpe has no possibility of parole for the entire 30 years.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

While this may be a true statement by Ms. Hannah...

This was apparently not written by the actress. I don't know why some black woman named her son "Daryl Hannah", but apparently that is what happened.

"I could have been Sean Bell. As a 23-year-old Black man living on the outskirts of New York City, I'm the same age and race as Bell, and I've likely walked some of the same streets he walked in his 23 years...