SURVEILLANCE

Thursday, December 14th, 2006EXCLUSIVE...Surveillance Film Shows Police, Passengers Diving For Cover as Bullets in Sean Bell Shooting Hit Train StationListen to Segment Download Show mp3 Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream Read Transcript Help Printer-friendly version Email to a friend Purchase Video/CD
In a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive, we air for the first time surveillance footage connected to the shooting of Sean Bell. The video from the Port Authority's Jamaica Avenue Air Train station reveals that one of the bullets fired by the five cops at Sean Bell and his friends narrowly missed striking a civilian and two Port Authority patrolmen who were standing on the station's elevated platform. [includes rush transcript]
We begin today's show with a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive. We will air for the first time surveillance footage connected to the shooting of Sean Bell. Bell was the unarmed African American man killed by undercover police in a hail of 50 bullets in Queens New York two weeks ago. He died hours before he was supposed to be married and two of his friends were seriously wounded.
This footage is from two surveillance cameras at the Port Authority's Jamaica Avenue Air Train station, which is a half-block away from the shooting site. The video reveals that one of the bullets fired by the five cops narrowly missed striking a civilian and two Port Authority patrolmen who were standing on the station's elevated platform.
One video shows a bullet shattering a window in the station and then nearly hitting the man. The second video shows two police officers scrambling for cover inside the station after the shot was fired. The content of the video was first revealed in the Daily News by Democracy Now co-host Juan Gonzalez but it has never been aired before.
In a moment we will be joined by Bishop Erskine Williams. He is the Bishop of the New Seasons Family Worship Center in Queens and a pastor for the families of Sean Bell's two injured friends but first we turn to Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez.
Juan Gonzalez, Daily News columnist and Democracy Now! co-host.