On Friday 25 April 2008, a New York City judge acquitted 3 NYPD officers charged with murder and reckless endangerment. They were on trial for killing 23-year-old Sean Bell outside a strip club in Harlem. He was killed after celebrating his bachelor party; it was the early morning before he was to be married. Now, perhaps, you may be thinking that Bell was up to no good, selling drugs or pimping whores, or something. He was not, he was shot at because two of his friends were suspected of having guns. Oh, and by the way, the cops fired a total of 50 bullets at Bell and his companions. One officer even had the audacity to reload and fire 31 shots single-handedly. Yet today, the 27th of April, these police officers are free men and Bell, his widow and his young child are without a husband and a father.There are many issues I have with this verdict, other than the obvious protect-your-own cronyism of New York City politics. I could possibly understand not convicting these officers of murder, but acquitting them on charges of even reckless endangerment? Really? I could be charged with reckless endangerment by driving 50 MPH in a school zone. But I guess if you're a cop, the bar is so high that you have fire more than even 50 bullets to be convicted of such a charge.
If you really want to get your blood boiling, as mine currently is, read the following New York Times Op-Ed from today by former NYPD Lieutenant Kyle Murphy. This article not only proves how most police just love to pull the trigger, but how it seems that to be a cop you either have to have no ability to criticize a fellow officer, or you have to give it up that skill for the badge and gun.
Interestingly, Fmr. Lt. Murphy cites that the officers there on that fateful night were there on a prostitution sting. So, let me get this straight: in this country, in the biggest city on earth, we still feel that prostitution is something that should have armed officers outside strip clubs in the early hours of morning? Don't worry about murderers or robbers or muggers in New York City, no focus on prostitutes. Focus on the world's oldest profession of getting money for adult consensual sex. Yes, people, this is the real problem facing America. Murphy also says that Bell's friends were suspected of having guns (FYI, no guns were ever found). I also forgot that it was illegal to have a gun in this country (the 2nd Amendment was repealed the night before Bell was shot and killed). This case is a shining example of why everyone should arm themselves. Poorly-educated, trigger happy police officers have guns, and so should you. Although I would trust most people would know that one clip is usually enough to kill somebody.
There is a large consensus in America that just because someone is a cop, they are automatically immune from any wrongdoing. Sure, all cops are good guys. No. As any college student will tell you, cops are assholes. Many of them are good and honest people who just want to enforce the law sternly and fairly. But far too many are not, they love being cops because they love the power. Cops are people too, they are capable of amazing feats of heroism and also incredible brutality and stupidity. Too bad people are too complacent to riot anymore; the murder of Sean Bell calls for such drastic action. Regardless, this is a case of incredible injustice, but we don't have to put up with it.
"Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." - Frederick Douglass
