Posts Tagged ‘Michael Oliver’

Have the Riots Started Yet?

Friday, April 25th, 2008

Sean Bell’s murderers were acquitted this afternoon:

Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day

Officers Michael Oliver, 36, and Gescard Isnora, 29, stood trial for manslaughter while Officer Marc Cooper, 40, was charged with reckless endangerment. Two other shooters weren’t charged.

Cooperman indicated that the police officers’ version of events was more credible than the victims’ version. “The people have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that each defendant was not justified” in firing, he said.

With tires screeching, glass breaking and bullets flying, the officers claimed that they believed they were the ones under fire.

The emphasis is mine. It should be obvious what happened: one cop fired a shot, the others heard it, panicked, assumed they were being fired upon, and joined the summary execution that killed Sean.

This is disgustingly predictable:

[Judge] Cooperman indicated that the police officers’ version of events was more credible than the victims’ version.

Deference to police, despite the evidence, has become a prerequisite to being a judge.

In the end, this is all we need to know:

There was no weapon inside Bell’s blood-splattered car.

Those cops fucked up huge. Cooperman lacks the spine to say so, and let the murderers walk away.

Sean Bell’s murder is one more reason that cops should be required to wear forehead cameras streaming live video and broadcasting GPS coordinates.