Should have seen this coming. I haven’t followed the case that closely, but this seems one of those times to remind everyone of a watershed issue in American history.
O.J. Simpson got off with a helping hand from Marcia Clark and Chris Darden. Not stupid black people. Substandard prosecution is why O.J. was free to break into those fools’ hotel room years later to steal back his own stuff.
Looks like that might have happened here.
No matter what, it’s amazing how often people get off scott-free for putting dozens and dozens of bullets into black people. It’s gotten old.
(And for those that think race isn’t an issue in this case just because some of the cops were black — race is the issue because of the victims. Police officers of all races have a terrible track record when it comes to its treatment of black people. Reference the Prince George’s County Police if you don’t believe me.)
10 thoughts on “Detectives acquitted in Queens”
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I for one was surprised that they would waste the tax payers money by having some bogus trial. Let’s keep it real, when is the last time a cop has be convicted in the killing of civilian, especially in New York. The only recourse now is a civil suit against the city. I only hope there are peaceful demonstrations b/c we don’t need anymore bloodshed.
Hey! Don’t talk about PG Police like…wait…on second thought, you’re 100% right.
So, the prosecution bumbled the case but its still a racially motivated acquittal? That logic doesn’t mesh, but I can see where you might be implying if they shot a white person then they would get locked up, no matter how poor the lawyering was.
You also have to look at the deeper situation here: sure, the predominant number of civilians killed by police are black but the major amount of violent crime is within neighborhoods that are predominantly black (and, increasingly, latino–which should mark a demographic change sooner or later). Violent neighborhoods, irregardless of the races that inhabit them, will create higher circumstances of civilian shootings.
^The shooting, not the acquittal. And it’s interesting you can see an implication that isn’t even there.
As for looking at the “deeper” situation — if you think that is the deeper situation, you have an interesting definition of “deep.”
I made that implication when you started the conversation by arguing that bumbled prosecution was the cause and then stated “its amazing how often people get off scott-free for putting dozens and dozens of bullets into *black* people.” If you were complaining about poor prosecutors in that last statement, I probably would have went in another direction. Since you have cleared it up, I can see where you are going.
as far as the deeper situation, i shot you a reply to your email.
This is a quote from the Judge: The judge reached the not-guilty verdict after carefully considering “inconsistencies in testimony among prosecution witnesses” and questioning “the motive witnesses may have had to lie,” he said. He concluded by saying that “at times, the testimony just didn’t make sense.”
WTF! And you don’t think the police have a tendancy to lie and stretch the truth to cover their asses? Gimme a break.
An interesting study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (Greenwald et al 2003) finds that in a virtual reality game, “Given only a fraction of a second to respond to images of men popping out from behind a garbage dumpster, people were more likely to shoot blacks than whites, even when the men were holding a harmless object such as a flashlight rather than a gun.” In the study, whites were shot incorrectly 26 percent of the time, and blacks 35 percent of the time–these results were statistically significant. I couldn’t find the sample size of this study, but I’m convinced that the same racial biases that influence the judgment of students might certainly be prevalent in police departments across this country.
My mind simply can’t understand why these officers felt it necessary to empty 50 rounds to subdue Sean Bell and his friends. If that isn’t excessive, I don’t know what is. Oh wait, I know–firing 41 rounds into one man, Amadou Diallo (who again, had NO weapon).
ETA: I meant to say, 41 rounds were fired at Amadou-19 of which hit him.
The real “deeper” issue is that this kind of stuff happens every day. It just takes a dude getting shot 50 times – fifty times?! – to make national news.
Bomani,
I know this is an unpopular opinion…but…OJ was likely innocent of murder.
I watched at least 85% of the trial and almost 95% of the witness testimony. that case was FULL of holes, lies, and wild conincidences.
The damned lead detective took the OJ blood sample home overnight for CHRIST SAKES! HOME!! OVERNIGHT!! A 20 year veteran of the force forgot theonly blood sample of the biggest murder case in California history in his jacket pocket!
Get the fuck out of here.
Anyway…love the blog.