Sean Bell - Sadly Enough, Let the Games begin...

The Sean Bell case was a controversy that agitated the tension between African Americans and police officers. Many African Americans feel that police officers are committing hate crimes against the people of the community.

Sean Bell was a young African American enjoying his last night as a single man. He was in a Queens night club Kalua, a site of frequent drug, weapon and prostitution complaints in Jamaica. An undercover cop overheard an exchange between a stripper and a man that led the officer to suspect the man was armed. Eight men left the club and argued briefly with another man, with one from the group saying, “Yo, get my gun,”. After Bell left his bachelor's party, an undercover cop identified himself in front of his Nissan altima when Bell was in the car. Bell drove into the undercover police officer striking him twice in his leg. Then he ran into a minivan carrying two backup officers. The officer started firing while yelling to the car’s occupants: “Let me see your hands!” The other officers, believing they were under attack, fired as well, eventually shooting off 50 rounds and killing the driver, Sean Bell. No gun was found in the car, but witnesses and video footage show that a fourth man in the party fled the scene once the altercation began. Bell and the other men with him all had been arrested for illegal possession of guns in the past. One of Bell’s companions that night, Joseph Guzman, had spent some time in prison, including for an armed robbery in which he shot at his victim.

Sean Bell's reaction to the undercover cop would lead anyone to believe that he was indeed armed. Why would a person react so violently if they weren't hiding anything? I understand why the police officers reacted this way. The undercover cops were on duty investigating a drug/ gun possession case. It seemed to them as if they caught their suspects.

However, I can understand why the black community is resentful towards the NYPD. Police officers have been making mistakes that have unfortunately been taking away innocent lives. But this one case can't be categorized as a racial discrimination act. The undercover team was racially mixed, and the first shot was made by an African American officer.

www.city-journal.org/html/eon2006-12-04hm.html