NYC to Pay $7 Million to Sean Bell Family
Closing a key chapter in one of the most controversial police shootings in recent memory, New York City agreed on Tuesday to pay more than $7 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the family and two friends of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old black man who was fatally shot by the police in 2006 on what would have been his wedding day.
The decision by the city came after two days of intense negotiations in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. The children whom Mr. Bell had with his fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, will receive $3.25 million, and two friends of Mr. Bell’s who were injured in the episode will also receive payments, with Joseph Guzman getting $3 million, and Trent Benefield $900,000.
Good news, but I’d almost rather see “NYC to invest $7 million in new NYPD training programs and policies to prevent wrongful killings”. Not to mention firing the officers involved rather than just placing them on ‘modified assignment’. Without that, this is just a payoff to hold their reputation over till it happens again.