4 Diallo Cops Go Free

Albany jury acquits officers on all counts in Bronx death

By TARA GEORGE
Daily News Staff Writer

The four officers who killed Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets were acquitted yesterday of all charges, bringing to a close the legal question of whether the cops' actions constituted criminal acts.

But the verdicts did little to heal the deep divisions caused by the shooting — prompting angry protests outside the courthouse here and in the Bronx, where Diallo was shot 19 times a year ago.

Police Officers Sean Carroll (center) and Kenneth Boss embrace in the Albany County Courthouse yesterday after their acquittal.

Officers Kenneth Boss, 28, and Sean Carroll, 36, wept as the verdicts were read; Edward McMellon, 27, and Richard Murphy, 27, stood showing little emotion as they learned they had been spared life behind bars.

The reaction elsewhere was more visceral. The cops' families heaved with tears, their sobs of relief piercing the tense silence in the heavily guarded courtroom.

The dead man's parents and supporters across the aisle sat motionless. Tears streaked the face of Diallo's mother, Kadiatou.

In the Bronx neighborhood where Diallo lived — and died Feb. 4, 1999 — about 200 protesters angrily filled the streets, marching to the 43rd Precinct stationhouse and stopping traffic along the Bronx River Parkway.

"Don't shoot! It's just a wallet!" the marchers chanted, referring to the cops' mistaken impression that Diallo was holding a gun — when actually he was holding his wallet.

In Albany, as the cops and their lawyers emerged from the courthouse, shouts of "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" came from about 100 protesters standing in the driving rain. About 15 were later arrested.

	Boss reacts as the verdict is read, as his lawyer, Steven Brounstein, tries to comfort him.

"There is no victory in this case. There is the loss of a life, and four police officers' lives were changed forever," said attorney John Patten, who represented Carroll.

As the lawyers, the officers and their families drove off, Diallo's somber parents came out, flanking the Rev. Al Sharpton.

"It is in the name of Amadou and his spirit that I ask for our calm and prayers," Kadiatou Diallo said as the crowd whipped itself into a frenzy.

"I think there's no justice," said Diallo's father, Saikou.

Sharpton said the acquittal was foretold when the case was moved to Albany from the Bronx — but he urged calm.

"This is not the end, this is only the beginning," he said. "Let not one brick be thrown, let not one bottle be thrown. Do not confuse us with the violent ones."

As of late last night, police had made 14 arrests in the Bronx for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Kadiatou Diallo's lawyers said they hoped the Justice Department would take over the case. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said last night that federal prosecutors would review all evidence to see if civil rights charges are warranted.

The shooting drove a wedge between cops and the community, as racial and ethnic minorities complained they were being victimized by the very people employed to protect them.

The cops' supporters and their lawyers, however, said race played no part in Diallo's death, and they blamed the media for stirring up trouble.

In the end, the jurors — who reached their verdict at the end of three days of deliberations — decided it was reasonable for the cops to think Diallo was armed and to fire in self-defense.

Amadou Diallo

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson said he disagreed with the jury verdict, but he praised state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi for running a tight trial.

"This indictment was questioned by some, but it was very, very necessary," Johnson said, adding that he thought 12 fair jurors could have been found in the Bronx.

The long-awaited verdict came at the end of the fourth week of the closely watched televised trial.

The jurors — who refused to comment last night — deliberated 2 1/2 days, considering charges of murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.

Mayor Giuliani said the trial was "eminently fair," adding that the racially mixed jury — seven white men, four black women and one white woman — "reaffirms our confidence in the American system of justice."

Cops at the scene said the verdict proved that all along the shooting had been a tragedy, not a crime.

"The verdict is what it should be," said Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. "The officers should be allowed to return to the force."

Police Commissioner Howard Safir said the cops will remain on modified assignment, pending a review by the firearms review board.

The courtroom battle — moved to Albany after an appellate court ruled the cops couldn't receive a fair trial in the Bronx — focused on the officers' behavior before the shooting, the manner in which Diallo died and the role the African immigrant played in his own death.

After the verdict was read, Teresi thanked the lawyers and the jurors for their effort and time.

"The book is closed on this case," he said.

With Maki Becker, Leslie Casimir, Marty Rosen and Tracey Tully