Protest in NY at police shooting

A rally has been held outside Mary Immaculate Hospital in the Queens district of New York after one man was killed and two were injured when police fired on a car on Saturday (November 25th).

Sean Bell, a 23-year-old groom-to-be, was shot dead outside a strip club after celebrating his stag night; he was due to marry Nicole Paultre just hours after he was killed.

Although the exact details of the shooting are still being investigated, it appears that police fired on Mr Bell's car which contained two passengers after it hit an unmarked police vehicle.

Officers fired an estimated 50 shots at the car, killing Mr Bell and leaving one passenger in a critical condition. Another man is currently in a stable condition after being hit three times.

Michael Wilson, writing in the New York Times, has offered a theory of "contagious shooting" for the large amount of shots that were fired.

Protesters have picked up on this point in particular and have raised previous concerns that the police fire too many bullets in situations that do not require them; all of the men in Mr Bell's car were unarmed.

John C Cerar, a retired commander of the police department's firearms training section, told the paper: "The fog of the moment happens. Different things happen that people don't understand.

"Most people really believe what it's like in television, that a police officer can take a gun and shoot someone out of the saddle."

The five officers involved have been assigned administrative duties as officials investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.