Three New York Police Department detectives were acquitted on charges of the shooting death of an unarmed groom only hours before his wedding. The detectives were on trial for charges of manslaughter, assault, and reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell.
Bell was killed and two of his friends were wounded in the 2006 shooting. Bell and a group of his friends were ending an all-night bachelor part at Kalua Club in Queens, New York.
Plainclothes detectives were at the strip club as it was being investigated on drugs, guns and prostitution suspicions. The 23-year-old groom and his friends left the club around 4 a.m. and witnesses say an argument broke out among the men. Detectives believed one of the men was going to get a gun so they followed and called for backup.
Bell and two men got into his car and detectives pulled their guns. Detectives thought Bell was attempting to run one of them over so they began shooting. 50 bullets were fired by five different detectives. Only three of the five were charged with manslaughter. No gun was found in Bell’s car.
The accused, Micheal Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper, were found not guilty of their charges.
Bell died only hours before he was to wed his fiancé Nicole Paultre. They have two daughters, a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old. After the verdict was read, Paultre ran out of the courtroom saying, “I’ve got to get out of here.”
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