Issue date: 5/15/08 Section: Opinion

Galen Kusic [Click to enlarge]

With the acquittal of three New York police officers on trial for the slaying of Sean Bell on his wedding day in November 2006, the U.S. continues to be a nation where police are consistently acquitted for crimes of brutality and abuse.

Police aren't just brutalizing - they are killing and getting away with it. Bell was shot at least 50 times by a combination of five officers. One officer let off 31 shots on his own. Bell was unarmed - so how does an unarmed man get shot 50 times and killed?

According to police, the plain-clothed officers had tried to identify themselves before Bell took off in his car, leaving from a strip club being investigated by undercover police. Supposedly, the cops thought Bell was trying to run them over, so they opened fire.

Apparently the officers were allowed to choose whether to have a jury or judge decide their fate. Of course they chose the judge, and in turn were acquitted on all counts. When do average citizens get to choose whether a judge or jury hears their case? Never.

According to CNN, Bell's widow, Nicole Paultre Bell, voiced what countless Americans across the nation are feeling after the verdict:

"On April 25, they killed Sean all over again. That's what it felt like to us. Yesterday, they - the justice system - let me down. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I'm still praying for justice, because it's not over. It's far from over."

The Rev. Al Sharpton led a protest march in New York City following the verdict, where over 200 protesters were arrested for disturbing the peace, including Sharpton and Bell's widow. It was shocking that more nationwide protests didn't take place after the verdict, but it was a start.

Unfortunately, the Bell slaying isn't close to the only one of its kind.

In 1999, West African immigrant Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times (hit with 19) by the NYPD in the Bronx. Diallo was approached by plain-clothed officers because they thought he fit the description of a man accused in a rape case.

When Diallo reached for his wallet to identify himself, the cops opened fire, thinking he was reaching for his gun; killing the 22-year-old with no prior criminal record.

The recent Bell shooting acquittal was followed a week later by a video surfacing of 10-plus Philadelphia cops beating three men after ripping them out of a car. It took place two days after a police officer was slain in response to a Philadelphia bank robbery.

This has brought questions to whether it was police retaliation. Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey responded to say that the video "did not look good" but that it would go under further investigation. He also stated that there were a lot of heightened emotions after the recent officer was slain.

According to the Associated Press, one of the victim's lawyers, D. Scott Perine, said:

"We don't take into consideration the emotions of police officers when it comes to the discharge of their duties ... Your emotional state, being tired, doesn't justify what's on that video."

One of the victims suffered a knot the size of a baseball on his head and had a serious leg injury. All three men were thrown on the ground, kicked, punched and hit with batons.

No action has been taken against the police, but it was disclosed that all three victims would be charged with aggravated assault. How does that work? It seems that victims in police abuse cases are consistently being falsely charged to cover the actual problem at hand - police abuse.

The constant violations of human rights by police officers is a huge problem that is not going away in any way, shape or form.

While there are good cops and officers who do their jobs well, there are too many instances of police abusing power to oppress and hurt people in poorer neighborhoods - especially people of color.

In San Francisco and Oakland alone, police are among the most corrupt in the nation.

On June 7, 2006, 25-year-old Asa Sullivan was murdered by members of the SFPD when they responded to a supposed call of squatters occupying a townhouse in a large complex near San Francisco State University. When the cops showed up, they detained Sullivan's friend, but Sullivan ran up into an attic, fearing what the cops would do (he was on probation for selling marijuana).

The cops, instead of trying to call him out and figure out what was going on, came in with guns blazing and shot and killed an unarmed Sullivan in a dark attic.

The cops claim they thought he had a gun in his hand … but it turned out to be an eyeglasses case. It left Sullivan's' family and his 6-year-old son without a father.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the SFPD is arresting black citizens at a rate of "about five times greater than their presence in the city's population" and at a much higher rate than any other major city in California.

Sheriff Hennessey of the SFPD told the Chronicle, "You are more likely to get arrested for the same act if you're black, you are more likely to be retained in jail for the same crime if you are black, and society is more likely to care less about your incarceration if you are black."

Sullivan's murder was the 17th by the SFPD since 1996. Eight of those men were unarmed African-American men. It isn't a coincidence.

In 2003, a group of corrupt cops called the "Oakland Riders" were brought to trial and acquitted for setting up West Oakland residents and framing them by planting drugs and falsifying arrests, among many other instances of police abuse.

The three officers were acquitted by a jury who did not represent Oakland demographics at all - there was not one African-American on the panel.

West Oakland is a predominantly African-American community, and while the officers still lost their jobs and cost the city over $10 million in damages, they didn't have to pay a debt to society for causing problems and hurting so many families' lives.

The other problem police abuse and corruption cause is that people in these neighborhoods never look to the cops for protection. Instead, cops are feared, loathed or distrusted because there is little to no help coming from them - only harassment and mistreatment of many hard-working honest people.

It is the same throughout the country, but there are organizations that are trying to stop the problem.

Ella Baker Center, a civil rights organization based out of Oakland, has a program called Bay Area Police Watch, which supports victims and survivors of police abuse and their families. It is one of the only programs in the country that offers legal support and references to victims.

The program focuses on holding police accountable for violence and mistreatment of citizens in the Bay Area community, and works to reform police practices and policies through legal workshops, seminars and campaigns.

Copwatch is another organization dedicated to monitoring the authorities, by videotaping their activity and educating the public about police misconduct. This concept was created when the Black Panther Party started it back in the '60s by following cops around to prevent abuse and misconduct from police officers.

If police brutality and misconduct continues to run rampant, it will only cause more problems in more communities, oppressing groups of people that the police feel are a "threat." In reality, cops can be just as much a threat as any citizen.

Police are humans and humans are known to give in to temptations of greed, corruption and power. With the amount of power police have, cops can commit a criminal act that any average citizen would never be able to get away with.

All I ask is for equality - hold police accountable for their actions. A change has to be made in the training and structure of policing as a whole. Without it, resentment and distrust from citizens will continue as police continue to racially profile and oppress communities through the abuse of power and the law.


Galen Kusic can be reached at gkusic@statehornet.com