Gescard Isnora, one of the undercover police detectives who shot 50 bullets at an unarmed Sean Bell, was fired this last Monday almost six years after the sensational killing.
The two other officers involved in the shooting, Marc Cooper and Michael Oliver, were forced to retire but kept their mighty pensions. This has outraged many, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who demanded to know why taxpayers still have to end up paying officers who killed the unarmed man just hours before his wedding.
After being acquitted in a tense trial in 2008, the three officers faced a departmental trial. Isnora’s firing was the result of this trial.
“This is normal but too late. He is the sacrificial lamb of a corrupted police department led by Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who has no credibility and should have resigned long since,” Bell family attorney Neville Mitchell told the Amsterdam News.
Mitchell said that it is “unbelievable” that the other detectives were allowed to keep their pensions upon resigning.
“This is a disgrace, but it’s not unexpected, given the process that occurred. These persons were not properly prosecuted by the police. If they think that they acted wrongfully, they should have been prosecuted just the same way as Gescard [was],” the lawyer added.
In 2006, Bell and two friends were partying at a Jamaica, Queens, club, when police confronted them and shots rang out.
Bell passed away and his friends were seriously injured.
Today, the Bell family does not consider Isnora’s firing a victory.
“I’m thankful that finally, after six years, the officer was terminated, but honestly, it should have been terminations across the board,” said Nicole Paultre Bell, Bell’s fiancee, in a published report. “It’s little justice for us at this point.”