The family of Sean Bell, the New York man killed in a barrage of police bullets in 2006, is pushing to get the Queens street where he died named after him, reports the New York Daily News. Relatives met with the local Community Board 12 about renaming the street in Jamaica, Queens after Bell, and they sent out flyers urging people to come out to the board meeting where the issue was to be discussed. However, a representative for the board called Bell’s family days before the meeting was to take place and informed them that the topic wasn’t on the calendar, reports the paper.  Click for more.

A vigil is held in memory of Sean Bell. To mark the second anniversary of the death of Sean Bell at police hands, about 100 people gathered before dawn Tuesday for a candlelight vigil and prayer service. Police struck and killed an unarmed Bell in a hail of bullets two years ago as he and friends left his bachelor party at a Queens, N.Y., club on the eve of his wedding day.  The shooting sparked outrage in the Black community as they mourned the loss of the young father and the circumstances of the young would-be bride and infant son he left behind. The Rev. Al Sharpton and Sean Bell’s fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, led the memorial on the street in Queens where the 23-year-old Black man was killed outside a strip club on Nov. 25, 2006. At precisely 4:10 a.m. – the time of the shooting – the mourners rang a large bell 50 times to mark the number of bullets fired at Bell and two of his friends, who were seriously injured. After laying wreaths and flowers, the group marched half a mile to a church, where Sharpton held a prayer service. “The idea is to commemorate the second anniversary and to continue to push for a federal case,” Sharpton said later. In April, a judge acquitted three of the undercover police officers involved in the shooting of state charges that included manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment. However, last week, Bell’s family and their lawyers met privately with federal prosecutors to discuss a possible civil rights case against the shooters.

Sean Bell’s family is still demanding justice. Two years undercover cops shot to death 23-year-old Sean Bell outside of a Queens, N.Y., nightclub on his wedding day eve, members of his family finally met with federal prosecutors. Bell died when cops fired on the unarmed groom and two friends in a haze of 50 bullets. The officers who fired on the three men were acquitted of criminal charges. “Justice was never served in this case,” family attorney Michael Hardy told Newsday. “We still want justice for Sean.” The family has been pressing the U.S. Justice Department to bring civil rights charges against the officers. Following their meeting with federal prosecutors on Tuesday, the family now believes that it is possible.  In a statement, the Rev. Al Sharpton said he believes today’s meeting is “a sign that the federal government has begun to seriously look into the egregious denial of the civil rights of Sean Bell, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield.” Bell’s family felt the same way. Bell’s family. “Sean had a life ahead of him,” fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell told reporters. “This has given us hope.”

Rev. Al and seven protesters convicted.

The Rev. AL Sharpton and seven others who disrupted traffic in protest over the Sean Bell verdict were found guilty of disorderly conduct Wednesday. “I am sympathetic to the underlying issues that gave rise to the protest,” Criminal Court Judge Larry Stephen said. But, he said, the police warned the protesters to get on the sidewalk during the May demonstration or face arrest, and they chose to disobey the orders, The New York Daily News reported. “If you decide to take a bullet for the team, you should not complain about the consequences,” Stephen said as he sentenced each protester to time served and $95 to cover court costs. Sharpton, pulling a $50 bill from his pocket, said his National Action Network would pay the fines “with $50 bills representing the 50 shots” fired by the cops who killed Bell and wounded two others. Bell was shot by police as he left his engagement party two years ago. Trent Benefield, Joseph Guzman and Bell’s fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, were present for the verdict.