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Witness Intimidation Arrest in Sean Bell Case
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 29, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 29, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Every day, there's something new related to the Sean Bell shooting case. Police arrested the boss of Ronaldo Manaya, the janitor who appeared as a last-minute witness during the grand jury hearing. Apparently, Melvin Cordero threatened to fire Manaya if he told police what he saw while working at the AirTrain terminal. The janitor ended up going to the police months later and testifying that he heard the police identify themselves before Bell drove towards the cops.
Police sources say that Cordero told Manaya, "You don't really want to do this," "You don't really want to go there." and "You could lose your job and even get arrested or deported." He even put a note in Manaya's locker: "You are going to jail." And Cordero, who has a drug conviction, may have been worried his own job would have been jeopardized. He was charged with intimidating a witness, tampering with a witness and coercion.
And picking up on the NYPD's claims that Anthony Jeffers identified Bell as the person who shot him last summer - which Jeffers denies - Bell's father William told the Daily News, "It's nonsense...Let [the police] show me proof. The only proof I have is that my son is dead." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says that Jeffers' statement was electronically recorded.
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commissioner ray kelly
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Queens Shooting
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The Police
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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