N.Y. prepares for verdict in 50-shot killing

As many as 1,000 police officers are poised for action if community unrest follows Friday’s verdict in the trial of three detectives charged in a high-profile shooting death, authorities said Wednesday.

The New York Police Department has organized crowd-control training for hundreds of officers and met with borough supervisors as part of the preparations.

Queens Justice Arthur Cooperman will announce his verdict Friday in the trial of the officers charged in the killing of Sean Bell, 23, outside a Queens strip club in the early hours of Nov. 25, 2006.

Dets. Michael Oliver, Gescard F. Isnora and Marc Cooper have been on trial since Feb. 25 in the shooting, in which two of Bell’s friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, were wounded. They testified against the detectives. Bell and his group had just left his bachelor party at the Club Kalua when a confrontation unfolded in which officers fired 50 shots.

Oliver and Isnora are accused of first- and second-degree manslaughter, Cooper of reckless endangerment.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has advocated on behalf of the Guzman and Benefield families, denounced the police preparations, calling suggestions that rioting might result from an acquittal insulting.

“We never participated in or engaged in violence. Maybe you ought to ask people who believe it’s all right to shoot 50 times at unarmed men how they are going to react,” Sharpton said, responding to a query about the police preparation.

Sharpton spoke Wednesday outside City Hall, where he was joined by Bell’s father, William Bell, and fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell -- who had her name legally changed -- as well as Benefield, Guzman and other supporters.

“Nothing will ever bring Sean back, but hopefully I pray that if the right decision is made Friday, this will help any other family from suffering the way we have,” Paultre Bell said.

Scores of officers are to be posted outside the Queens courthouse where the three detectives will learn their fate. Other officers will be assigned to Club Kalua and a housing project that was the scene of tensions after the shooting.

Sources told Newsday that officers in other boroughs have been told to keep an eye out for problems if there is an acquittal. “The fact is, we’ve got a lot of young officers that haven’t been tested out on the street,” said one source with knowledge of the plans. “We know there could be rallies, but we’re preparing for the unanticipated, just in case.”

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said late Wednesday that he was not anticipating violence. “I expect everybody in the city to act in an appropriate manner,” he said.