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Queens Shooting: Fiancee Says "I'm Really Not Angry"; Survivors Speak to Investigators
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 5, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 5, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Last night, Larry King spoke to the Reverend Al Sharpton and Nicole Paultre. Paultre is the fiancee of Sean Bell, who was killed in a barrage of police bullets outside a Queens club hours before his wedding, and this marked her first television appearance. She was remarkably calm and poised for most of the interview, though very emotional when describing how she found out that Bell, the father of her two children, was dead. But Paultre appears to be focused on justice:
KING: Why -- this is strange to ask it this way, Nicole, but why don't you appear more angry?
PAULTRE: Well, I'm actually, to be honest, I'm really not angry. I'm more just trying to be strong and we just want justice. I want justice. Me and my family, we want justice. That's it. And that's what we're praying for and we're hoping for.
KING: Reverend Sharpton, does it surprise you that she is not angrier?
SHARPTON: I think that what has been striking to me about her, she said the parents of Sean, is that they from the day -- from the first day wanted to preserve his name.
Here's the transcript. King did ask his usual inane questions. For instance:
KING: I must say, Nicole and Al, we are receiving an enormous amount of outpouring of love and callers calling in to express that. To Nicole, Nicole, what is that pin you're wearing?
PAULTRE: This was -- this is a picture of my family, the four of us. It was taken on Thanksgiving, the night before he was killed.
KING: Were you wearing it the day he was killed?
PAULTRE: No. We -- we actually had these made up, the family had these buttons made up for the funeral. We gave them out to a lot of people who were there.
One detail that King got wrong was when he asked Paultre if Mayor Bloomberg should have attended the funeral. While we're not trying to make excuses for the city's or mayor's behavior, it was widely reported that the family asked Bloomberg not to attend, in order to avoid a media frenzy. Even Pastor Lester Williams who presided over the funeral service said that he was pleased the Mayor was responding to the family's wishes.
Sharpton did say during the interview that they would be fighting this incident even if all the police officers involved were black, but pointed out that these excessive shootings only seem to happen in black communities. And Paultre said that she was wearing her wedding ring and that Bell was buried with his. One Larry King viewer asked where donations could be sent and Sharpton said that donations for the family would be accepted at Community Church of Christ in Queens, care of Lester Williams.
Yesterday, the Queens DA's office interviewed Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, friends of Bell who were injured in the gunfire. Both men said that the undercover officers did not identify themselves and that there was no "fourth man" near Bell's car.
Mayor Bloomberg has derided signs at Saturday's protest that said "Death to the Pigs That Kill Our Kids." Guzman also told the Daily News that he did not want people to become violent while angry about Bell's death and their injuries: "No violence, man. No violence. Not in my name."
Tagged
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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