DA Brown Rejects Call To Replace His Office In Bell Shooting Case
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Brown said in a prepared statement that "demands for the appointment of a special prosecutor are neither helpful nor productive-nor are they in any respect justified".

Taking sharp exception to a call for a special prosecutor to replace him as the prosecutor in the Sean Bell alleged cop shooting case, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown stated firmly that he would not step aside. Brown said in a prepared statement that "demands for the appointment of a special prosecutor are neither helpful nor productive- nor are they in any respect justified".

The veteran prosecutor, a former state Supreme Court Justice, said in the statement, "There exists no basis in law or in fact for the appointment of a special prosecutor. I have promised a full, fair and thorough investigation- an investigation that will be completed as expeditiously as possible, following which the evidence resulting therefrom will be presented to a grand jury. The investigation is moving forward as we speak."

The calls for Brown's removal were made on Sunday by an attorney representing Bell's family and also by civil rights attorney Norman Siegel.

Siegel said he and New York Civil Rights Coalition Leader Michael Meyers had sent a letter to Governor George Pataki last week demanding that he replace Brown as the prosecutor in the case.

"People don't have confidence that local district attorneys know how to handle these cases because of their relationship with the cops," Siegel stated.

Joining Siegel in seeking Brown's removal was attorney Charlie King, a recent candidate for state attorney general who is now representing several men who were outside the Kalua Cabaret in South Jamaica when the incident took place in the early morning hours of November 25.

King also said, according to Newsday, that there was grave concern that the NYPD at the precinct level is conducting its own investigation into the Bell case.

Bell was slain after he left the Kalua Cabaret following a bachelor party that had been held for him. Undercover cops suspected there was a gun in the car Bell was driving.

After Bell's car twice bumped the undercover cops' vehicle and he refused to stop, cops fired 50 shots at Bell's car, killing him and wounding two passengers.

A check of Bell's car failed to turn up any weapon and a subsequent investigation failed to find any gun. Bell was buried last week.

The Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, supported by the Jamaica community and others outside Queens, have charged that the shooting was unjustified and constituted an overreaction by the police.

Two days later, Brown, whose office had launched an investigation of the shooting immediately after it happened, said the probe was being conducted jointly by experienced prosecutors and investigators assigned to his Major Crimes Division and Homicide Investigations Bureaus.

"It is independent of that being conducted by the Police Department," the veteran DA pointed out.

"[The investigation] will be fair and impartial and thorough and complete," Brown added.

"I will be guided only by the law and the facts," he continued, "and I will reach no conclusions until the investigation is complete. There will be no rush to judgment."

Brown said that he had been personally involved in the investigation and had met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, numerous elected officials at all levels and various community and church leaders.

Brown said he had also met with Sharpton and other clergy members, a group that also included Sean Bell's parents. The DA said he had discussed the progress of the investigation and repeated what he had said. "Our decisions in this case will be based on the facts and the law and we will follow the evidence wherever it leads us."

According to the New York Times of Monday, December 4, Brown has requested from the police the following: •autopsy and toxicology reports

•911 and radio transmission tapes

•hospital reports for both the civilians and police officers involved in the case •ballistics reports

•criminal histories, if any, of witnesses

•photos or videos taken by civilians or police.

These items were among the 30 or so he had asked for.

Brown said the investigation would focus sharply on what occurred in the moments leading up to the shooting, and in those frenzied seconds when the officers fired 50 bullets at the car, killing Bell and wounding two of his friends who were passengers.