CNN - Sources: Four NYPD officers indicted in Diallo shooting

Publish date: 2024-05-02
US

Actress Susan Sarandon among protesters arrested

officers
The officers remained on desk duty, and chose not to testify before the grand jury  

March 25, 1999
Web posted at: 7:14 p.m. EST (0014 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Law enforcement sources told CNN Thursday that four officers have been indicted by a grand jury for second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo on February 4.

Officers Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy, members of the elite street crimes unit, fired 41 shots at the unarmed Diallo, hitting him 19 times.

The officers were on patrol looking for a serial rapist in the Bronx neighborhood where Diallo lived at the time.

The death of Diallo, 22, has sparked citywide outrage over aggressive police tactics. Demonstrations outside police headquarters during the past few weeks have resulted in more than 800 arrests, half of those in the last two days.

The failure to charge the officers more quickly was one of the protesters' major points of contention.

The officers, who remained on desk duty, chose not to testify before the grand jury. Their attorneys have said officers are allowed to fire their weapons if they believe their lives are in danger, suggesting a possible defense when the case goes to trial.

Also Thursday, police arrested Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon as she joined a demonstration outside police headquarters.

Sarandon was one of 219 people arrested Thursday, the most in a single day since the daily civil disobedience rallies began earlier this month.

Sarandon
Sarandon sang the civil rights anthem 'We Shall Overcome' as she was led into custody  

"If we're not here, we're saying what happened is acceptable and normal and I think that does a disservice to other police," Sarandon said before she was led into custody, singing "We Shall Overcome."

Sarandon is not the only celebrity who has chosen to participate in the demonstrations. Actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were arrested Tuesday. The list of famous arrestees also includes former New York Mayor David Dinkins, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York), and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume.

When Sarandon was asked if other celebrities should join the ongoing protests she said, "Everything we can do to keep this issue alive is really important."

While protesters continue to complain about what they see as the city's feeble response to the Diallo shooting, police turned out for the first time to support their own Thursday. About 50 off-duty officers rallied simultaneously across the plaza, carrying signs like "Police Are People Too."

"There's only a couple hundred people over there. That's not how a majority of the city feels," said one Brooklyn officer. "People in the city feel we're doing a fine job. Crime's lower. They feel safer."

"We're not corrupt to the core, we're not racist," said officer Peter Moog. "Do we ask the 911 operator the race of the person on the other end of the phone? No, we respond, no matter what neighborhood we're assigned to ... It's very demoralizing," Moog said.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is investigating the NYPD in the aftermath of the Diallo shooting and the alleged brutalization in 1997 of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. The department is exploring whether there is a "pattern and practice" of racial discrimination by the police department.

"We must work together to make sure that we know the best ways, and that we implement the best ways for uncovering any abuse of authority on the part of the limited number of police officers involved in that type of activity," said Attorney General Janet Reno at her weekly press briefing.

Reno said she hoped to "take appropriate steps when that abuse of authority has been identified to see that it is corrected -- and that it is never done again."

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