DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Courtesy of the New York Daily_News
The three cops cleared of killing Sean Bell on his wedding day – and four others involved in the tragic shooting – were hit Tuesday with NYPD disciplinary charges.
Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver, who were acquitted on April 25, showed up at Police Headquarters separately and were led into a room where they were handed a sheet of paper with the charges on them – and told to sign them.
Each was accused of firing their weapons outside of NYPD departmental guidelines – charges that could result in their being fired, police brass said.
Isnora also was charged with violating NYPD vice protocols by taking action as an undercover.
The 50-bullet barrage that killed Bell and badly wounded two of his buddies on Nov. 25, 2006, began after Isnora followed the trio to their car, which was parked around the corner from a Queens strip joint.
Isnora and the other officers were doing an undercover sting operation at the Kalua Cabaret.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who is demanding that the Justice Department try the three cops for violating Bell’s civil rights, called the internal charges “a step in the right direction.”
“That’s good news,” Bell’s heartbroken dad, William, added. “On a gloomy day like today, I need some good news.”
Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, said the union will continue to support the detectives. “We will vigorously defend them in the NYPD trial room as we did in Queens court,” he said.
Also in trouble is the detectives’ hapless former commanding officer, Lt. Gary Napoli. He was not charged, but prosecutors accused him of incompetence.
Napoli was hit with departmental charges for not preparing an adequate tactical plan before he sent his undercover officers into action. “It was his show and he blew it,” a police source said.
Another cop who shot at Bell but was not indicted – Officer Michael Carey – was charged with violating departmental rules on discharging a weapon, sources said. Two crime scene detectives, Sgt. Huey McNeil and Detective Robin Knapp, were accused of compromising the crime scene.
Knapp was charged with failure to process the scene correctly and McNeil with failing to supervise the processing of the scene correctly.
Officer Paul Headley, who also shot at Bell but escaped criminal charges, has not been hit with an additional departmental charge, said his lawyer John Arlia.
Oliver, Isnora and Cooper remain on modified duty – stripped of their guns and badges.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the department will wait until the feds complete their probe of the shooting before moving forward with internal action.
“The only reason the department did this is to protect the statute of limitations,” said Philip Karasyk, Isnora’s lawyer.
