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Actualité courante
Mort de Amadou Diallo à New York City

Amy Waldman
Grand Jury Begins Weighing Diallo Shooting

New York Times — February 17, 1999

New York — As another protest over the police shooting of Amadou Diallo ended on a tense note Tuesday afternoon, a Bronx grand jury began hearing evidence in the case in order to consider possible criminal charges against the four officers involved.

The grand jury is expected to take about three weeks to hear witnesses and to decide whether to indict the officers, said Steven R. Reed, a spokesman for the Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson.

The most serious charge that the officers are considered likely to face is second-degree murder, but they also could be indicted on the lesser charges of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.

Grand jury proceedings are secret, but the panel of 23 jurors is expected to hear from medical and forensic experts and neighbors or other witnesses who saw some part of the events of that night.

The grand jury will not compel the four officers — Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Richard Murphy and Kenneth Boss — to testify. The lawyers for Carroll, Murphy and Boss would not comment Tuesday on whether their clients would volunteer to testify. Stephen Worth, the lawyer for McMellon, said his client intended to do so, but that could change.

Lawyers familiar with the case said that for a grand jury to conclude that Diallo's killing was justified, the officers themselves would most likely have to present the justification — that they thought he had a gun and that any reasonable person would have drawn that conclusion.

But if the officers believe that they will be indicted anyway, they are unlikely to appear voluntarily before the grand jury, because any statements they make could be used against them in a criminal trial.

The grand jury convened in the criminal court building, a block from the state supreme courthouse, where earlier in the day hundreds of people showed up to call for criminal charges against the officers.

The rally was led by the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, who announced a daily vigil in front of the courthouse, saying, « We're going to be here every day at 11; we're going to carry this through to the end. »

He was accompanied by the Rev. Ruben Diaz of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization, his son, Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr., and other politicians and religious leaders. Most of those who attended the rally, chanting « No justice, no peace, » were black men.

Around 1 p.m., the speakers left the courthouse steps and cut off the sound system. But rather than dispersing, a small part of the crowd marched toward the criminal courthouse, trailed by officers who appeared to have been taken by surprise.

About 200 protesters and hundreds of officers faced off across the street from the criminal courthouse and in front of the building where Johnson's office is. Police reinforcements continued to arrive and set up barricades between the two groups. "Murderers, murderers," the crowd chanted.

The protesters then moved west, engaging in another standoff with the police at the corner of 161st Street and River Avenue. « Stop the killing, » they yelled.

Officers stood by, but the crowd slowly dispersed with no arrests.