NEW YORK—This week has seen the beginning of the Sean Bell trial in which three New York City police officers have gone on trial for killing Sean Bell, an unarmed black man, on his wedding day. Amidst some rampant anti-police sentiment, it seems only fair to stop for a moment and in the spirit of "giving peace a chance," giving the police a chance too.
The shooting happened in 2006 following a bachelor party at a seedy Queens strip club, when police—one black, one Hispanic, and one white—thought Bell and his friends were armed. The police opened fire on Bell after he drove his car into one officer and then into a police van (although one account does differ on this point).
The way the media today unfortunately works is that the most sensational angle—namely "police kill unarmed black man"—gets the most attention overall and favoritism so that the media can be anti-establishment like you presumably are and get your attention. The police officers' self-defense motivation for firing 50 shots, the misinformation they received about there being a gun, and the police officers' perspective gets footnote treatment and at best secondary treatment.
Apparently, unbeknownst to local media, no judge has yet weighed all the facts and given a final ruling on the Sean Bell case. The case is not closed with one unarmed black man dead, the case is very much open with one unarmed black man dead and with one black man's, one Hispanic man's and one white man's lives still hanging in the balance—no doubt, due to the enormous amount of harsh press treatment, these police officers' personal lives have already been ruined to a great extent.
No matter how banal a statement it might be, the fact is that police officers are putting their lives on the line everyday. "The officers were acting in good faith," said Michael Pallandino, President of New York City's Detectives Endowment Association, according to NY1 News. They were acting in good faith that what they were doing was right. The question to ask is if you were in a life or death situation would you want the police to help you in good faith or to wait and get all the facts to make a 100 percent accurate assessment of the situation.
That said, the death of Sean Bell is still a tragedy and deserves review from all levels of the police department and a close examination of what went wrong to find a good way forward. Is it possible that the police officers involved were acting recklessly and acting criminally? Of course—anything is possible. In the meantime, while the facts and accounts are being weighed it would be fitting if the city and its media would have some good faith in its police officers.
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