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Sean Bell Shooting's 31-Shot Cop: "I Didn't Want to Die"
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 25, 2008
Modified Mar 25, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 25, 2008
Modified Mar 25, 2008
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Detective Michael Oliver, the undercover cop who fired 31 times at Sean Bell in the fatal November 2006 shooting, told a grand jury last year, "I didn't want to die. I reloaded the gun, and I continued to fire."
The 14-year NYPD veteran's testimony was entered into evidence in the trial where he and fellow detective Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges; detective Marc Cooper faces reckless endangerment. Bell, who was to be married hours later, died from one of Oliver's bullets--a total of 50 were fired from police--while Bell's friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield were also seriously injured.
Oliver believed Guzman was armed (he wasn't) and had shot Isnora. He even said he was aiming at Guzman and Benefield, not Bell: "You are trained to keep shooting until you eliminate that threat. Unfortunately as a result, sometimes people die, and it was the last thing in the world I ever wanted to do, was to kill someone or to hurt someone in their family. I have to live with that also for the rest of my life.”
The Times also found Oliver's grand jury testimony to be more defensive, whereas Isnora's was "sorrowful and apologetic." The Bell family's lawyer thought Oliver's words were "damning" to his case. The Daily News has a PDF of Oliver's testimony.
Tagged
grand jury testimony
michael oliver
nypd
queens
sean bell
trial
undercover
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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