On trial are Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora for manslaughter and Detective Marc Cooper for reckless endangerment.

The trial of three New York City police officers is scheduled to begin today in the death of Sean Bell, who was killed outside a strip club where his bachelor party was held the day before his wedding. Thinking that Bell was going for a gun, Police fired more than 50 bullets at Bell and his friends and no weapon was ever found in Bell's vehicle.
On trial are Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora for manslaughter and Detective Marc Cooper for reckless endangerment.Undercover police had the Kalua Cabaret strip club under surveillance on Nov. 25, 2006 when two groups of men had an altercation outside the club around 4 a.m. One of the men yelled, "Yo, get my gun."The altercation ended and the men broke up into two groups. An undercover officer followed one of the groups that got into a silver Nissan Altima, which belonged to Sean Bell who was driving.Bell drove the car about a half a block, turned a corner and collided with a unmarked police minivan which had several plainsclothes officers inside. Bell then backed up onto a sidewalk and into a storefront security gate, almost hitting an undercover officer. He then drove the car forward again striking the police minivan for the second time.Five officers then fired at least 50 rounds into the vehicle, killing Bell and wounding the other two passengers. No guns were found in Bell's vehicle, according to police reports.
Oliver fired 31 shots, including the one that killed Sean Bell. Isnora fired 11 time and Cooper fired four times.After an appeals court turned down their request to move the trial out of New York City, the policemen waived their right to a jury trial. The fate will be decided instead by State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman.
"I have said from the very beginning the shooting was tragic," Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, told reporters. "But they didn't act with criminality in their hearts and in their minds, and I think the proper arena for this is civil court."

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