Manhattan Strip Clubs: Feds won’t charge officers in Sean Bell shooting
Federal authorities will not pursue charges against the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell, the unarmed bridegroom who died in a hail of police bullets outside a Queens strip club just hours before his wedding.
Prosecutors said there was “insufficient evidence” that Bell’s civil rights were violated when undercover officers unloaded on a car carrying Bell and two friends on a Jamaica street in November, 2006.
Three officers were acquitted in 2008, including Michael Oliver, who police said reloaded while firing 31 of the 50 shots that filled the vehicle and surrounding streets.
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Bell, 23, and two friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, had piled in Bell’s car after leaving a bachelor party at a Queens strip club when they were confronted by a team of police officers who thought they were retrieving a gun to settle a score at the club.