2006-11-27

Bridegroom Murdered by Police at His Bachelor Party

Trini Wright, a dancer at the strip club where the men had been celebrating, told the Daily News she was going to a diner with them and was putting her makeup bag in the trunk of their car when the police minivan appeared.
"The minivan came around the corner and smashed into their car. And they (the police) jumped out shooting," the 28-year-old told the newspaper for Monday editions. "No ’stop.’ No ’freeze.’ No nothing."
[Police commissioner Raymond] Kelly had said Saturday night that the police department was still piecing together what happened and that it was too early to say whether the shooting was justified. He said it was unclear whether the officers, who were all in plain clothes, identified themselves before firing.
Police brutality - in New York, in Los Angeles, in Detroit, in America - must stop.

3 comments:

Paul Hue said...

I agree. From what I understand, five cops were involved: two black, one hispanic, and two white. Decoupling this from cries of racism will help draw various peoples into a successful movement for police overhauling.

The only thing good I can say about US cops is that they are better than any in a large nation today on earth, and continuously better over time. For this reason most Americans never experience these sorts of incidents, and do not conduct their lives with fear of police.

Paul Hue said...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/25/nyc.shooting.ap/index.html

The police were investigating prostitution at the club, which had so many violations for hookering, drugs, and weapons violations that the cops were there undercover to find the final violation needed to shut down the place. It may turn out that the cops claim that with a stripper getting into the car with the men "to go to dinner with them" appeared to them an act of prostitution; they may claim that they swooped in to make a bust and that the guys hit the unmarked cars while trying to escape. We shall see.

I have experienced police brutality during a bachelor party by undercover cops in an incident of unjustified over reaction, but it was triggered by an action of my own that was incorrect.

I will be watching this case closely and examining the emerging information.

Paul Hue said...

From the New York Times:

1. Five officers shooting: 2 black, 2 white, 1 hispanic.

2. "The shooting happened as the police were undercover in the club, Club Kalua, to investigate reports of prostitution and drug dealing. There was a dispute outside between two groups of men, and one group of three or four left. One undercover officer followed them, believing they might have been going to get a gun before returning to the club. In the officers’ version of events, the undercover officer confronted the men in Mr. Bell’s silver Nissan Altima, and they tried to run him over, prompting the fusillade from him and his backups."

3. The shooting started after the one officer got hit by the car.

4. An officer was drinking: "Some of the leaders expressed dismay over Mr. Kelly’s revelation that one of the undercover officers had had two beers in the course of the operation inside the nightclub, but was not given a breath analyzer test. Mr. Kelly said that undercover officers are allowed the two drinks and are not normally tested for intoxication. He said they were deemed fit for duty by their superior."

Don't know which if any of the above is accurate. My initial impression is that the victims got into a confrontation with another group, they were leaving, the undercover cops intervened, then either:

A. The cops didn't identify themselves, and perhaps acted like some civilian bad asses, and the victims just tried to get the hell out of this new group of unidentified bad asses, and the cops identified themselves only after the victims got the jump in getting away.

B. The cops identified themselves and the guys tried to get away from from cops.

In my experience, I believe that (A) above is the most likely, and in either case the cops over reacted. If either scenario turns out to be accurate, and without accounting for other facts, I would say that the cops are guilty of homicide.