200 Protest N.J. Officer’s Shooting of Unarmed Man

About 200 demonstrators staged a peaceful rally Saturday to protest the killing of an unarmed black motorist by a white police officer.

Protesters marched through city streets, with a police escort, to the steps of police headquarters, where the Rev. Al Sharpton led the crowd in chants of “No justice, no peace!”

“They must understand that when you shoot one of us, you shoot all of us. We are not anti-police; we are anti-police brutality,” the New York City activist said.

Authorities said Officer William Mildon fired his weapon at Bilal Colbert on Monday after Colbert, 29, refused to get out of his car and shifted into reverse, striking the officer’s leg with his car door.

A grand jury will review the shooting, which happened in this community on the west side of Newark.

Police had issued a warrant for Colbert’s arrest after a similar incident April 14, when Officer Clinton Franks stopped Colbert for a traffic violation. Franks was bumped by a car door but was not seriously hurt, authorities said.

Mildon fatally shot another black motorist four years ago. Police said Keion Williams, 24, tried to flee a traffic stop and dragged Mildon, breaking the officer’s leg. A grand jury decided not to indict Mildon in the May 9, 1997, shooting.

The Rev. William Rutherford, who earlier in the week had called Mildon a racist murderer, said the community should stay calm while authorities investigate the shooting. He also called for Mildon’s suspension without pay.

Mildon’s lawyer filed a libel and slander suit Friday against Rutherford, but the clergyman said he stood by his comments.

Mildon has an unlisted home telephone number and could not be reached for comment Saturday. There was no immediate response to calls to the police department.

Among the people at Saturday’s rally was Colbert’s brother, Willie Humbert. He noted that Colbert was driving his girlfriend’s daughters to school when he was shot. One girl was in the car at the time, while another had gone into a store to get snacks, police said.

“Something should have been done then, and for . . . sure something needs to be done now,” Humbert said. “They killed him right in front of his kids.”

On Friday, a mediator and a community relations director from the U.S. Justice Department met with Mayor Sara Bost and other local officials.

“We asked them to come here to help us through this so there won’t be an escalation in the community,” Bost said.