Photograph of the Reverend Al Sharpton by Armchair Messiah on Flickr Two hundred sixteen people were arrested during pray-ins protesting the acquittals of three police detectives in the shooting of Sean Bell. The NY Times called the demonstrations "carefully orchestrated," as hundreds of (perhaps a thousand) people gathered at six different locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, blocking traffic and attracting arrest. The Reverend Al Sharpton, Bell's fiancee Nicole Paultre Bell, and Bell's two friends......

Photograph of protesters on Varick Street by stconrad on Flickr Hundreds of people gathered at six different locations in the city to protest the acquittal of three police detectives in the Sean Bell shooting. They blocked traffic at the Queensboro Bridge, Triborough Bridge, Manhttan Bridge, Holland Tunnel, Queens Midtown Tunnel and Brooklyn Bridge, and arrests were made at the Queens Midtown Tunnel and Brooklyn Bridge. The arrests seem to be because the protesters have......

Photograph of protesters in Harlem on April 26, 2008 by urbanblitz on Flickr Today at 3 p.m., six pray-ins are planned around Manhattan and Brooklyn to protest the Sean Bell shooting verdict. The Reverend Al Sharpton is leading the events and has said he and other participants are willing to be arrested to make a point about the acquittals of the three police detectives who helped fire a total of 50 shots at the......

Photograph of a young boy participating in Sunday's protest march by Stephen Chernin/AP Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers visited the site where Sean Bell was fatally shot by police officers. He was accompanied by people including Bell's friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, who were also fired at, and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Conyers said he spoke to U.S. Attorney Michael Mukasey and that he would work on strategy with the......

Photograph from yesterday's Sean Bell protest by urbanblitz on Flickr The Reverend Al Sharpton is planning a series of rallies and acts of civil disobedience in the wake of the acquittals of three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell. Bell, who was a few hours from his wedding, was unarmed when undercover police fired at him 50 times outside a Queens strip club on November 25, 2008. At yesterday's National......

Photograph of protesters in Jamaica, Queens by Jason DeCrow/AP Last night, hundreds of people marched from the Queens courthouse to the Kalua Lounge, the strip club where Sean Bell was killed on his wedding day, yelling, "Fifty shots equal murder," to protest yesterday's not guilty verdict for three police officers charged in the shooting. Bell's mother, Valerie, fainted when Judge Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict, amid tears from Bell's fiance Nicole Paultre Bell and......

Photograph of Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver by Dima Gavrysh/AP Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper, who were acquitted of all charges in the Sean Bell shooting trial, spoke at a press conference this afternoon. Detectives Oliver and Isnora thanked Judge Cooperman for his "fair" decision (Isnora also, per City Room, "thanked God, his family, his lawyers"). Detective Cooper, who was only charged with reckless endangerment, said, "I'd like......

Above, from left, Detectives Marc Cooper, Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora Update: Queens DA Dick Brown just held a press conference with his prosecution team to discuss Judge Cooperman's not guilty verdict in the Sean Bell shooting trial. While many fault the prosecution's case against the three cops as the reason for its outcome, Brown defended the work of everyone involved in the case, stressing the amount of time and effort put into preparing......

Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m., Judge Arthur Cooperman is expected to announce a verdict for the three police officers on trial for the shooting of Sean Bell. Mayor Bloomberg said he's not worried about the reaction, telling reporters yesterday, “I think people in this city have come a long way from the time when people rushed into the streets and tried to tear apart society.” Bloomberg also made a point of speaking with the Reverend......

Photograph of Reverend Sharpton, with William Bell, Valerie Bell, Nicole Paultre Bell, John Liu, and Trent Benefeld on City Hall steps (above) and photograph of Mayor Bloomberg with Sharpton and Paultre Bell by Jin Lee/AP The Reverend Al Sharpton held a press conference on the steps of City Hall today to discuss the Sean Bell shooting trial verdict, which will be announced on Friday. Sharpton said an acquittal would not be justice. The News......

Photograph of Nicole Paultre-Bell heading to the Queens County Courthouse today by Craig Ruttle/AP Lawyers made closing arguments in the Sean Bell shooting trial today to Judge Arthur Cooperman, who is presiding over the bench trial. Defense lawyers argued that the police officers on trial were acting in self-defense. One lawyer, Paul Martin, blamed Bell's friend Joseph Guzman, for intimating he was going to get a gun to even a score. Martin said, "He......

Yesterday, a doctor who treated police shooting victim Joseph Guzman was the prosecution's last witness, detailing how Guzman was riddled with bullets. Guzman's friend, Sean Bell, was killed in the gunfire, and two undercover detectives face manslaughter charges while another faces reckless endangerment charges for the shooting. Surgeon Dr. Albert Cooper testified that on November 25, 2006, Guzman was brought into the Mary Immaculate Hospital, "He was telling me in somewhat of a mumbling voice......

Joseph Guzman dramatically described the night he was hit 16 times, with 19 wounds all over his body, and his friend Sean Bell was killed in a hail of police gunfire. In recalling the man holding a gun, who turned out to be an undercover detective, stood near Bell's car, "He shot me. I’m looking in his eyes, man. He shot me. Everything slowed down. But I’m looking at him shooting me. He’s continuing to......

One of two friends in Sean Bell's car on November 25, 2006 testified in a Queens court room yesterday about the night where undercover police fatally shot Bell. Trent Benefield, who had been celebrating Bell's bachelor party at a Queens strip club, said he wounded, laying on the sidewalk, when he begged a man standing over him, "Please don’t shoot me. I don’t got nothing to do with nothing.’" The man turned out to be......

Yesterday, a NYPD trajectory expert testified about the fatal 2006 shooting of unarmed man on his wedding day. Crime scene detective Michael Cunningham, only called to examine the evidence seven months after the incident, testified he was unable to determine some trajectories because measurements supplied by the crime scene unit team were inaccurate. Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora are on trial for manslaughter, while Detective Marc Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment. Prosecutors used......

The Sean Bell trial progresses, with recent attention falling on a bruise below the right knee of Detective Gescard F. Isnora. It was allegedly sustained when Isnora was struck by the car driven by Sean Bell. Isnora claims he leaped out of the way to avoid more serious injury. Bell then reportedly rammed his car into an unmarked police van, then a wall, and then the van again, where it came to a stop. He......

A police detective detailed photographing the aftermath of the Sean Bell shooting as prosecutors entered 80 photographs into evidence. The Post called the photos "horrific" and "grisly," as many showed blood on the car's seats and police-fired bullets riddled in the side of the car. They caused Bell's mother Valerie Bell to look away while Bell's fiancee Nicole Paultrie Bell "showed no emotion, but occasionally shook her head." One of now-retired detective Dave Rivera's photographs......

Testimony picked up again yesterday in the trial of three police officers for fatally shooting an unarmed man in 2006. The prosecution called friends of victim Sean Bell and the commanding officer of the undercover operation to the stand. Bell was to be married on November 25, 2006, and the night before, he and his friends were celebrating with a bachelor party at Club Kalua, a topless bar in Jamaica, Queens. Friend Hugh Jensen said......

Photograph of protesters outside the Sean Bell shooting trial in Queens by Gary He/AP; the protesters are holding signs counting down the 50 shots fired Under intense scrutiny from the community and media, the trial of three police officers in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man started today. Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges while Detective Mark Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment in the 2006 death of Sean Bell,......

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