Posted on 03/16/2007 2:09:54 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
3 Officers Indicted In Groom Shooting (NYC grand jury decides to bring charges against cops)
www.wnbc.com
March 16, 2007
NEW YORK -- Three of five officers involved in a 50-bullet shooting that left a man dead on his wedding day have been indicted.
The grand jury decided to bring charges against Officer Marc Cooper, 39, Detective Michael Oliver, 35, and Undercover Officer Gescard Isnora, 28.
The exact charges were unknown.
Oliver fired 31 shots in the incident by reloading and emptying his 9mm pistol. Isnora fired 11 shots, and Cooper fired four shots.
"He has been indicted. He has been asked to surrender on Monday," said Paul Martin, who represents Cooper. He did not know what charges were brought against Cooper.
The lawyer for Isnora also said his client was indicted. "He is very upset, but he is confident that once he has his day in court he will be vindicated," Isnora attorney Philip Karasyk told The Associated Press.
"I am disappointed my client was indicted. But it was not unexpected given the forum we are in," said Oliver's lawyer, James Culleton.
It was not immediately known if other officers were also charged.
The decision came nearly four months after Sean Bell, 23, was shot and killed and two of his friends, Trent Benefield, 23, and Joseph Guzman, 31, were wounded.
The Rev. Al Sharpton said the charges marked an important first step in the fight for justice in the case.
"Since Nov. 25th, we have battled together. Today is a major step in that battle, whether it will be a step forward, time will tell. But one thing that we can say, if you stay together and you fight, you can do what is necesary to protect children," Sharpton said at a news conference.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnbc.com ...
Three sacrifical lambs to ofered to the alter of racial calm?
How many of the officers were black?
2
And why should he? The Duck Lax players shouldn't be criticized for this either but it does seem like you excuse one and think the groom deserved what he got.
Yeah right....if they don't get him in the first trial then they'll come after him with federal charges. He might as well face the fact that he will be going to prison. The PC left is doing everything they can to make it illegal to enforce the law, protect the border, imprison terrorist and for soldiers to kill the enemy.
From what I've read....The guy didn't have a gun, no gun was ever actually seen, they were breaking no laws and they were ordered at gun point out of their car.
Cowboy cops is what we have here.....and like typical they couldn't even shoot straight.
A marked black and white should have been called in if there were suspicions that needed further explanations. Plain and simple.
Undercover cops have no business ordering nonthreatening (at that moment) individuals out there lawful cars at gun point.
Additionally that they recklessly fired over 50 shots at those ranges tells me a lot of what I need to know about them.....I'll leave it at that...
The two that were not indicted?
NO. One of the black cops was indicted, the other wasn't (as far as we know)
People here really seem to be worked up about this case, and believe the cops were fully justified in the shooting(s). From what I've read the shooting doesn't seem justified. Just because the cops probably would not have been indicted without the help of Rev. Al, doesn't mean they are innocent. All it means is that NYC et al. may have been able to sweep this under the rug.
You nailed it. It is not clear why this is such a hard concept to grasp. Contrary to what most Freepers want to believe, NYC is not Iraq. The cops had no reason to escalate the situation - whatever happened to good police work?
Undercover cops who wield weapons are a huge threat to our liberties in the country - especially to the 2nd amendment. What good is the 2nd amendment if all a criminal has to do is say "I'm an undercover cop - drop your weapon"?
"Malcom X was right when he said the media is the most powerful force"
Not only did the big X say that, but I have a Playboy interview he did where he warned "his people" not to trust liberals!
I thought I read that they tried to run the undercovers down with their car? Am I mistaken?
Don't forget that, on average, 50% of the jurors have an IQ below 100. Nifonging is easy!
They tried to leave the scene of a situation where street clothed individuals were pointing guns at them ordering them out of their car.
If I was being carjacked (or my wife) and she ran over the SOB doing it.....should she be charged? No.
These officers (if they had true concerns) should have called in a marked black and white to get answers to any suspicions they may have had. There was no reason to escalate the situation in the manner they choose to.
YOU HAVE ARTICULATED ALL THE POINTS WELL.
this is bad for all police, who don't act like this...
We are all again victims of the stupid War on Drugs..that creates so many scenes like this...no need for fire power aggressivel launched!
What we had here was reckless (cowboy) cops who decided to escalate a situation for no good reason. 9 out of 10 times nothing goes to terribly wrong when such foolish action is taken.
This time (was that 1 in 10) were something went very wrong because of their reckless action.
You are oddly overly concerned with the black and white aspect to a situation that is about cowboy police officers making a foolish decision to needlessly escalate a nonthreatening situation.
Again, if they had true concerns, they should have called in a marked black and white to get answers to those suspicions.
One of my best friends is a detective. He says they really screwed up. I haven't been following the case very closely, and your comments seem pretty correct.
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