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| NEWS > 27 November 2006 |
Other related articles:
Kenya: Once Again, Police Tops
For the sixth year running, the Police Force is still Kenya's most corrupt institution. The force has, however, for the first time been joined in the top 10 most corrupt by lawyers and constituency development fund (CDF) committees.
Parliament, which has not been featuring in the Transparency International (K) Bribery Index first published in 2001, has been ranked 13 out of 41 worst institutions when it comes to corruption.
The findings for 2006 show the Transport Licensing Board as second to Police, followed by public universities and colleges as bribery-prone institutio... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Times Online - UK
27 November 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Mayor of New York calls police
The Mayor of New York said the killing of an unarmed man as he left his stag party in the city was "inexplicable".
Sean Bell, a 23-year-old father of two who was due to marry his girlfriend on Saturday, died in a hail of 50 bullets hours before his wedding after police opened fire on his car outside a cabaret club in Queens. Two other men in the car were wounded, one critically.
The Queen's District Attorney, Richard Brown, has opened an investigation into the shooting and is expected to summon a grand jury, the first step towards prosecuting the officers, later this week.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised a "fair and thorough investigation" into the incident at a news conference today but said: "I can tell you that it is to me unacceptable or inexplicable how you can have 50-odd shots fired, but that’s up to the investigation to find out what really happened."
Appearing alongside Ray Kelly, the New York City Police Commissioner, Mr Bloomberg added that it was not the policy of the New York Police Department to open fire on cars and their drivers, even if the vehicle is being used as "a lethal weapon", as has been accused in the case of Bell.
Several hundred people gathered yesterday to hold a vigil for Bell and to complain of police brutality. The incident has echoes of the killing of Amadou Diallo, a 22-year-old Guinean immigrant who was shot dead by police in 1999. Officers fired at Diallo 41 times even though he was unarmed.
The killing of Diallo, who was black, raised allegations of racism against the NYPD. The latest shooting was carried out by five officers, of whom two were white, two black and one Hispanic.
Reverend Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist, said he and other leaders had a "very candid, a very blunt meeting" with Mr Bloomberg today but did not accuse the officers of racism. "This city must show moral outrage that 50 shots were fired on three unarmed men," he said.
Before dawn this morning, Mr Bell’s fiancée, Nicole Paultre, made a quiet visit to the outside of the Kalua Cabaret club, where her husband-to-be's stag party took place. She lit candles clustered around a photograph of the smiling couple with one of their daughters.
The police officers involved in the shooting have handed in their weapons and been placed on administrative leave while the killing is investigated.
In the first official account of the shooting, Mr Kelly said the officers fired at Bell's car 50 times, hitting it 21 times while the rest of the bullets shattered windows and flew into nearby buildings.
Police opened fire after an undercover officer, on an anti-prostitution operation, overheard an argument between Bell's party and another group of men, Mr Kelly said.
After overhearing the word "gun", the officer challenged Bell and his friends and opened fire when the car they were travelling in lurched forward and struck the officer and an unmarked police van.
The other officers, none of whom had fired their weapons in the line of duty before, then started shooting. One detective, a 12-year veteran of the force with a spotless record, fired two magazines -- 31 bullets in all -- in the ensuing chaos.
Mr Kelly has admitted that it is not clear whether the officers identified themselves before opening fire. The New York Daily News today quoted a witness to the incident saying that it was the police van that collided with Bell's Nissan Altima and that the shooting started immediately.
"The minivan came around the corner and smashed into their car. And they (the police) jumped out shooting," said Trini Wright, a dancer at the club. "No ’stop.’ No ’freeze.’ No nothing."
The New York Post offered an explanation for the prolonged gunfire, quoting police sources saying that the undercover officer, who opened fire first, may have shot through Bell's car, shattering the rear window, leading the other officers to believe they were being shot at.
Bell and his two friends, Joseph Guzman, and Trent Benefield, 23, were then caught in the crossfire. Bell was hit twice, in the neck and arm; Guzman was struck 11 times and Benefield three times. The two wounded men are expected to live.
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