A City Council committee tomorrow is expected to vote on a controversial bill to name a Queens street after Sean Bell, who was killed in a hail of 50 police bullets on what was to be his wedding day.
The Council’s Committee on Parks and Recreation will vote whether to rename a stretch of Liverpool Street, Sean Bell Way.
Bell, 23, who was unarmed, was shot in his car there outside a strip club in 2006 as he left a bachelor party with friends.
Undercover detectives who were probing reports of alleged prostitution at the club said one of Bell’s pals was overheard saying, “Yo, go get my gun“ after getting into an argument with someone and they headed off to Bell’s car together. A judge in 2008 acquitted three detectives of all charges.
It is one of 68 proposed street and public place renamings in an omnibus bill that’s believed likely to pass and go to the entire Council for a vote on Monday.
Michael Palladino, president of the detectives’ union, said the proposal is “disgraceful and if it passes through committee, then they are simply disrespecting the facts and embracing fantasy.
“During a thorough examination of the facts and evidence by the court, it was revealed that Bell had a criminal record that included arrests for drug sales and gun possession,“ Palladino said.
“While intoxicated, he used his car as a deadly weapon and rammed the police performing their lawful duty. His failed attempt to kill them resulted in his own death. That behavior does not warrant glorification.“
In a separate letter to each member of the full Council, Palladino called the proposal a “terrible insult“ to people who have had streets named in their honor ‘’and who greatly contributed in some manner to society.“
He wrote it “sends a terrible message to“ law-abiding citizens, youth and the law enforcement community.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, said Palladino’s “letter is slanderous and absolutely void of fact. Sean Bell, whatever criminal record he had as a youngster, he had redeemed himself and was preparing to marry the mother of his two children, something we advocate in our community all the time.
“This is a symbol of how someone can redeem themselves and do what is right,“ Sharpton said.
“This is not a Sean Bell anti-police street. This is a Sean Bell street.“ Sharpton said.
He said the street naming was important because of what Bell represents. “In a community that has far too many kids that have made mistakes and then correct themselves, we say if you correct yourself your community will stand with you and we stood with him.“
Sharpton said that black police organizations supported the street re-naming and that “no one is seeing this as a statement against police except Mr. Palladino.“