The trial of three detectives responsible for the death of Sean Bell, a young black man killed during a confusing run-in outside a Queens strip club after his bachelor party, ended with the acquittal of all three

National Review, May 19, 2008

The trial of three detectives responsible for the death of Sean Bell, a young black man killed during a confusing run-in outside a Queens strip club after his bachelor party, ended with the acquittal of all three. "New Yorkers will not take this abortion of justice lying down," said Al Sharpton.

Yet justice was done. The contradictory and confusing testimony of numerous prosecution witnesses, many of them friends of Bell, made it impossible to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for the array of charges, from manslaughter to reckless endangerment. This does not mean that the detectives were competent or capable, that they will escape civil penalties, or that police procedures do not need improvement. One of the lessons of the Giuliani and Bloomberg mayoralties is that good policing is smart policing, and is always a work in progress. Law-abiding citizens in New York and nationwide deserve no less.