The City of NY will pay out $3.25 million dollars to the Estate of Sean Bell in settlement of a civil suit. For the clueless, Bell was murdered by undercover police in a hail of 50 bullets in 2006 outside of a strip club in Queens, which sparked outrage in NY and around the nation. Total payout from the City of NY is $7 million, as two of Bell's two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were critically wounded in the shooting and will also receive monetary compensation. In a nutshell: The 3 men, Bell, Guzman, Benefield were in the parking lot of the strip club after celebrating Bell's bachelor party (the night before his wedding) when the undercover officers, there investigating reports of prostitution, "misheard the men" during an altercation with them and thought one of them had a gun-- the rest is history. Interestingly enough, no gun was found. As a condition of the settlement payout, the police department admits no wrongdoing. The officers involved in the shooting were acquitted of criminal charges in 2008.
Is this justice? [
CNN]
