On November 25, 2006, 23-year-old Sean Bell was hours away from marrying his high school sweetheart. But after five police officers approached him and his friends at his bachelor party, Bell never made it down the aisle.
The mix of plainclothes and uniformed officers said they’d overheard Bell’s friend mention having a gun outside a nightclub in Queens, New York. Later, no gun was found. But that didn’t stop the officers from firing FIFTY times at their car!
Most of the bullets sprayed at neighboring buildings and cars. Residents ducked, terrified. A window shattered, wounding two transit officers.
The other shots hit their target. Bell’s soon-to-be wife, and their two small daughters, would never see him alive again.
As years went by, Bell’s family watched as police continued to kill. “Sean’s story keeps repeating itself,” said his father in 2019. “And the results are the same … ”
And again, in 2021. “When we going to get justice? When are they going to label us as human beings, not … shooting us down like animals and putting us aside like we no one.”
The police system is careless when it comes to “protecting” our lives because it doesn’t value us. From bystanders dodging dozens of bullets to Bell losing his life at 23, police don’t protect us from danger. They create it.