Protesting Shootings By New York Police

Jet, May 8, 2000

PROTESTING SHOOTINGS BY NEW YORK POLICE: The Rev. Al Sharpton (c) is taken into custody in New York City's Times Square along with 26 other protesters as they block the entrances of Broadway shows during demonstrations that called on the federal government to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the New York City Police Department.

Citing the New York Police shootings of unarmed Blacks, Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo in February 1999 and Patrick Dorismond, an off duty security guard who recently died in a scuffle with two undercover cops who approached him, Sharpton vowed to hold a protest each day of Holy Week in different parts of the city to press for government action. The family of Amadou Diallo recently filed a civil lawsuit seeking a reported $81 million from New York City and the four White police officers who were acquitted of criminal charges in his death.