Sean Bell and fiance Nicole Paultre Bell.

The investigation is over, the Department of Justice announced this afternoon, because there was "insufficient evidence" to prove that the cops acted "willfully" in killing Bell and wounding two of his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield. All three of them were unarmed in the one-way hail of bullets outside Club Kalua in Jamaica.

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The YouTube video doesn't embed, but as you can some from the above screen grab, the Black Panthers briefly joined forces with Anonymous last Saturday. Only in New York, kids, only in New York.

Causes collided in Times Square this past weekend when Sean Bell protesters glimpsed an Anonymous member’s sign. On it was a quote you’d never find in Bartlett’s, “You shouldn’t be scrubbing the floor on your hands and knees. Get yourself a nigger; that’s what they’re born for.” Allegedly plucked from a letter L. Ron Hubbard sent to his first wife, the placard’s inflammatory, racist pull-quote, with the N-word pronounced in red letters, momentarily united the two groups.

Cary Conover captured some powerful images from the Sean Bell protests yesterday, including this photograph of the hands of the father of Nicole Paultre-Bell as an NYPD bus got ready to pull away from the Brooklyn Bridge. Check here for a full gallery of Conover's shots.

UPDATE: 6:30

by Sean Gardiner and Michael Clancy

Photos by Cary Conover

The Rev. Al Sharpton, Nicole Paultre Bell, Joe Guzman and Trent Benefield were among scores of people arrested at a series of demonstrations throughout the city protesting the acquittal of three cops charged in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell.

Bell's fiancee, and Guzman and Benefield—the two men shot with Bell in a hail of 50 NYPD bullets—were among the first people to be taken away by police after blocking traffic on Centre Street, at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, just minutes before 5 p.m.

On December 6th, thousands of protesters filled Foley Square to express their outrage over the Sean Bell shooting. Today, the Rev. Al Sharpton is promising civil disobedience, slow-downs and pray-ins at six locations around the city to protest the acquittal of three cops charged in the shooting.

From a press release:

Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network, will lead a citywide "pray-in" on Wednesday, May, 7th at six locations around New York City to lead up to an eventual citywide shut down this Spring. Joining Rev. Sharpton in civil disobedience will be Nicole Paultre Bell, Joseph Guzman, Trent Benefield and other community and religious leaders to call upon the United States Department of Justice to intervene in the case.

According to Rev. Sharpton, participants in Wednesday's "pray-ins" at six locations across the city should be prepared to go to jail to protest the acquittals of the three detectives. "If you are not going to lock up the guilty in this town, then I guess you'll have to lock up the innocent," says Rev. Sharpton. Rev. Sharpton said protesters at each location would get down on their knees in prayer.

The protest will begin at 3:00 p.m. at the following locations:

By Sean Gardiner and Michael Clancy

The three detectives charged in the shooting death of Sean Bell, gunned down outside Club Kalua in a hail of 50 NYPD bullets on the eve of his wedding, walked out of court free men this morning as Justice Arthur J. Cooperman declared them not guilty on all counts.

Noting the unreliability of prosecution witnesses, through their renunciations and inconsistent statements, past criminal convictions, demeanor while testifying and motivation to lie on the stand, Cooperman acquitted the cops following a bench trial, saying "These factors played a significant part in the people's ability to prosecute their case and had the effect of eviscerating the credibility of the people's witnesses....at times the testimony just didn't make sense. "

The judge noted that the Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper’ actions didn’t rise to the level of criminal act and noted that any "questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums," referring to possible departmental charges the detectives still may face.

In the aftermath, the Justice Department has said it will conduct a probe to see if any civil rights violations occurred and Rev. Al Shaprton has promised hit-and-run demonstrations, such as sit ins and civil disobedience arrests, at unnamed locations across the city starting tomorrow.

UPDATE: 11:18 am

The three detectives charged in the shooting death of Sean Bell, gunned down outside Club Kalua in a hail of 50 NYPD bullets on the eve of his wedding, walked out of court free men this morning as Justice Arthur J. Cooperman returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts.

Noting the unreliability of prosecution witnesses, through their renunciations and inconsistent statements, past criminal convictions and motivation to lie on on the stand, Cooperman acquitted the cops, saying "These factors played a significant part in the people's ability to prosecute their case and had the effect of eviscerating the credibility of the people's witnesses....at times the testimony just didn't make sense. "

Referring to the departmental and even federal charges the officers may face, Cooperman continued "questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums." As the judge finished his verdict, Nicole Paultre Bell, Bell's fiancee and widow, stood up immediately and walked out of the courtroom as Bell's father buried his head in hands sitting in silence as a friend comforted him.

About one hundred people—and three times as many cops—gathered outside State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens as police and news choppers buzzed overhead. PBA president Pat Lynch was the first to react to reporters, saying this "was a case where there is no winner and no losers, we still had a death that occurred... we still had officers who had to deal with that death."

As an angry crowd nearly drowned him out with screams of "Murderers," Lynch added that the verdict sent a message to New York City police officers that says "you will get fairness" which was important to officers out on patrol because "there is never a script... we have to deal with circumstances as they come."

Bell's family and friends—including shooting the Rev. Al Sharpton, attorney Sanford Rubenstein and shooting victim Joseph Guzman who wore a soft cast on his right leg and a white T-shirt emblazoned with a sparkly silver "Sean Bell's Boys" logo—walked past the assembled media without comment.

Carrying banners that said "50 Shots" and "Justice for Sean Bell," many Bell supporters chanted "Racist Cops You Can't Hide, We Charge You with Genocide” as one small scuffle broke out when a Bell supporter took exception to a reporter's question.

Calling for possible federal civil rights charges for the involved officers, Leroy Gadsden, of the Jamaica chapter of the NAACP, told WNBC Channel 4. "This is court is bankrupt when it comes to people of color."