July 9, 2009
Mayor won't attend Bell's funeral
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday he won't attend today's funeral for Sean Bell, the Queens man killed in a barrage of police bullets last weekend.
Bloomberg did not provide an explanation for why he won't be among the mourners, but Bell's mother had said earlier this week she wanted only close friends and family at the funeral.
The mayor said he spoke to the family Tuesday and to the pastor of the church where Bell was set to get married on Sunday. Bloomberg said he decided to ask Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, who lives in Queens, to represent the city at the funeral.
"In terms of the funeral, I spent an hour with the family and I talked to them," Bloomberg said Thursday. "I talked to their minister yesterday and decided that I am not going to go to the funeral."
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After meeting with community leaders Monday at City Hall, Bloomberg visited the neighborhood of the shooting Tuesday and met privately with Bell's parents and the man's fiancee, Nicole Paultre.
The family's pastor, Bishop Lester Williams of Community Church of Christ in Jamaica, said publicly he had invited the mayor to this evening's funeral.
Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), whose district includes the site of the shooting, said the mayor had to respect the family's wishes.
"The mayor has never been reticent about attending funerals before, he was at the Stansbury funeral," said Comrie, referring to the unarmed 19-year-old shot by police on a building rooftop in 2004.
"It's been pretty clear that the family does not want outsiders at the funeral, I think that's still their position," Comrie said.
A wake will take place Friday starting at 4 p.m. at the church, followed by the funeral at 7 p.m.
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