AP News, March 2nd, 2007
Two men crippled in a 50-shot police barrage that killed their unarmed friend on his wedding day were called Friday to testify before a grand jury investigating whether five officers should face criminal charges.
Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman prayed on the steps of a courthouse with the Rev. Al Sharpton and the fiance of the dead man, Sean Bell, before heading to a nearby office building to offer their version of the Nov. 25 shooting _ a case that outraged the community and raised questions about police tactics.
"We waited through winter to be able to tell the truth," Sharpton said. Benefield, who was on crutches, and Guzman, who was in a wheelchair, did not speak to reporters.
Lawyers for the pair have said they would testify that five shooters never identified themselves as police before opening fire.
Bell, 23, was killed before dawn after his bachelor party at a topless bar where undercover police were investigating prostitution complaints.
Union representatives and lawyers for the officers have said their clients overheard Bell and his friends argue with another patron and thought they were going to retrieve a gun from a car parked around the corner.
When an undercover detective approached the car _ driven by Bell and carrying Benefield and Guzman _ it lurched forward and bumped him, then twice rammed into an unmarked police minivan, the NYPD said.
The undercover officer, who has claimed through his lawyer that he spotted one of the men make a suspicious move, squeezed off 11 rounds before the vehicle came to a stop. One of the other plainclothes detectives fired 31 bullets.
Bell was black, as are the other shooting victims. Some of the officers are black and some are white; all have been taken off undercover duty and put on paid leave.
