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New Bell witness: I saw 4th gunman

BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO and ROCCO PARASCANDOLA | tony.destefano@newsday.com and rocco.parascandola@newsday.com

1:06 PM EDT, March 15, 2007

A man claiming to have witnessed the fatal police shooting of Sean Bell and wounding of two of his friends has come forward, saying he saw another man shoot at police in the moments before the cops began firing at Bell's car, according to the head of the police detectives' union.

Word of the last-minute surprise witness and his potentially crucial testimony came on the first day of the grand jury's deliberations, as they weigh whether to indict any of the five cops involved in the Nov. 25 shooting near the Kalua Cabaret in Jamaica, where Bell had celebrated his bachelor party.

The grand jury worked into the evening Wednesday, leaving the Kew Gardens office building where they are meeting at about 7 p.m., according to the district attorney's office. That was about 90 minutes later than usual for the panel.

Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives' Endowment Association, said the man went to the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights Wednesday afternoon and claimed to have seen a man -- whom Palladino described as a "fourth man" -- fire at police just before cops opened their 50-shot barrage, killing Bell, 23, and wounding Trent Benefield, 23, and Joseph Guzman, 31.

The three men were unarmed and no gun was found in Bell's car or at the scene. Attorneys for Bell's family and for Benefield and Guzman have said none of them had a gun. But police officials said that the cops involved believed someone with Bell had a gun.

"We are aware of the alleged eyewitness and have no comment at this time," a spokesman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Wednesday night.

Palladino said the witness, whom he did not identify, said he had been afraid to come forward earlier.

At the precinct, he said, the man told detectives he had information "including seeing the fourth man that we have been searching for, with a gun, firing a shot or maybe two at the officers, and running from the location."

Palladino said the district attorney "is reluctant to put him before the grand jury, and I just find that totally unacceptable. It defies logic."

The new witness should go before the panel to guarantee that the jurors hear all the evidence, he said.

"If there is a witness out there who has pertinent information on such a complex and important case, it is important that he go before the grand jury and be heard," Palladino said.

A law enforcement source described the man as working near the scene of the shooting.

The Rev. Al Sharpton was skeptical of news of the last-minute witness.

"The whole process is suspect to me. We'll just see," Sharpton said.

"I don't know if it's true," he said of the witness. "If he's saying he saw cops shoot, it may hurt the cops."

The grand jury, which began hearing evidence on Jan. 22, was charged with the law Wednesday morning and then began deliberations.

There are 23 people on the panel. Sixteen must be present for a quorum, thereby enabling deliberations to occur, with 12 of those being jurors who have heard all the pertinent evidence.

Matthew Nestel and Cara Tabachnick contributed to this story.