Sean Bell Ruling: Facts?! Who Cares About Facts?!

posted at 2:33 pm on February 17, 2010 by Howard Portnoy
[ Race Hustlers ]   

Yesterday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it will not hand down civil rights charges in the case of three New York City police officers who were responsible for the shooting death of Sean Bell. How you read this ruling depends on how you read race relations in America in the 21st century, especially as the subject pertains to members of law enforcement. If you believe that the police — including black members of the force — have it in for the black population and look for opportunities to shoot down members of that community in its tracks, then you are outraged at the ruling. You are also an idiot.

Sean Bell, in case the name does not. . . er — ring a bell, was a 23-year-old black male killed by New York City police in a proverbial hail of bullets early on the morning of Nov. 25, 2006. A number of facts in the case are immutable:

1. FACT: Bell in his short life was arrested three times, twice for drug dealing and once for a firearms possession.
2. FACT: The men Bell was in the company of the night he was killed, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, had themselves been arrested nine and three times, respectively. Each had been arrested at least once for illegal firearm possession. Guzman had been previously arrested for armed robbery and had served two separate terms in a state prison. Benefield had a sealed record as a juvenile for gun possession and robbery.
3. FACT: The Queens nightclub Bell and his friends were frequenting the night of the shooting was under investigation by police, who were there in plain clothes, responding to reports of a prostitution ring.
4. FACT: Bell deliberately struck a man with his car and attempted to run the same down shortly before police opened fire.
5. FACT: The police at the scene fired off 50 rounds at Bell and his associates.
6. FACT: Bell was unarmed.

It is Facts 5 and 6 alone that from the moment the case made headlines became the sole focus of black leaders, including race-baiter Al Sharpton. It is these facts alone that prompted outrage from the black community and led to charges that the police use excessive force against minorities.

If you examine Facts 1 through 4 in isolation, they hardly paint a sympathetic portrait of a respectable, upstanding citizen brutally murdered by racist police. But even if they did, would that support the claim that racial prejudice was a factor in the police’s conduct?

One of the police officers inside the club claimed he heard one of Bell’s friends say, “Yo, get my gun” as they exited the club. Plain-clothed officer Gescard Isnora, the man Sean Bell tried to run down his car and who is himself black, insists he held out his badge, identified himself as a police officer, and told Bell to stop his car. It was also Isnora who claimed he thought he saw Guzman reach for a gun while in the car, yelled “gun” to other police at the scene, and opened fire on the car. The other officers and detectives joined him in shooting at the car, firing off 50 bullets in a few seconds.

Again, depending on your reading of race relations as the subject pertains to members of law enforcement, either (a) the police made a mistake or (b) a black police officer saw a chance to kill him one o’ them darkies, and leapt at it. In the rational world, only one of those readings makes any sense whatsoever.

In 2008, two of the officers who shot Bell were acquitted of manslaughter. A third was acquitted for reckless endangerment. Federal officials then launched an investigation of their own to see whether federal charges could be applied to the situation. They interviewed witnesses and analyzed ballistics evidence in the case before coming to their final conclusion, which was published yesterday.

So, case closed? Not hardly. The Epoch Times reports that “U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell met with the family members and friends of Bell” at Al Sharpton’s Harlem headquarters. ” They said they would continue to push for the termination of the three officers’ jobs and wants the city to be held accountable.”

If these people really believe the system is out to get them, why bother? Why not do what self-preservation dictates that any living being do, and that’s to run — not walk — to the nearest border. I know if I thought it was open season on Jews here in the U.S., that’s sure as hell what I would do.

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