Federal authorities will not pursue charges against the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell, the unarmed bridegroom who died in a hail of police bullets outside a Queens strip club just hours before his wedding.
Prosecutors said there was "insufficient evidence" that Bell's civil rights were violated when undercover officers unloaded on a car carrying Bell and two friends on a Jamaica street in November, 2006.

Three officers were acquitted in 2008, including Michael Oliver, who police said reloaded while firing 31 of the 50 shots that filled the vehicle and surrounding streets.

Bitterly disappointed, Bell's parents and his fiancée, Nicole Paultre-Bell, sought input from federal prosecutors, only to have their hopes for justice dashed again.
"Why didn't they take a chance and go with a jury," his father William Bell said.

"They say they didn't have enough to go with the evidence."

"What kind of message are they sending kids? It's open season. They can do what ever they want."

Bell's family met with officials from the US Justice Department's civil rights division, who delivered the news.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a family adviser, said he spoke with US Attorney General Eric Holder about the decision.

"I expressed to him my extreme disappointment in the decision and our legal advisors saw the evidence and federal jurisdiction differently," Sharpton said in a statement. "We agreed, however, that the family and community must continue to bring a new day in how we deal with police matters and how both community residents and police are protected equally under the law."

Bell, 23, and two friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, had piled in Bell's car after leaving a bachelor party at a Queens strip club when they were confronted by a team of police officers who thought they were retrieving a gun to settle a score at the club.

No gun was recovered.

Oliver's lawyer, James Culleton, said he was pleased with the decision.
"There was no intent to violate any civil rights," Culleton said. "There was justification for the shooting. There was a fair trial in Queens and a fair decision."

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