Vol. 74/No. 31      August 16, 2010

Bell, a 23-year old African-American, was killed, and Guzman and Benefield were wounded, on Nov. 25, 2006. In a hail of 50 bullets, five plainclothes cops fired on them in their car as they left a Jamaica, Queens, nightclub. A couple of weeks later, 10,000 people, led by Benefield from his wheelchair, marched down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue to protest the killing of Bell.

At the time, police said they fired because they thought the men were armed, but witnesses contradicted these claims. In March 2007 three of the five officers were indicted on charges ranging from first-degree manslaughter to reckless endangerment but were acquitted a year later. In February 2010 the Department of Justice announced they would not file charges against the cops for civil rights violations.

Michael Cardozo, attorney for the New York City Law Department, told CNN.com he hopes “all parties can find some measure of closure by this settlement.” The deal worked out with the city awards the estate of Bell $3.25 million. Guzman receives $3 million and Benefield $900,000.

Paultre-Bell told the Daily News, “I believe the settlement is fair.” But she went on to say “No amount of money can provide closure for losing Sean.”

Guzman, who was shot 17 times, still has four bullets lodged inside him, and wears a leg brace, told the press, “I don’t think a Black or Hispanic man’s life means much in this city.”

Lending unintended credence to Guzman’s view, Michael Palladino, president of the police detectives’ union, blasted the settlement calling it “an absolute joke.” The cops who killed Bell on his wedding day were “doing their lawful duty,” he told the Daily News.  
 
 
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