NYC settles bridegroom killing suit

NEW YORK, July 28 (UPI) -- New York City will pay more than $7 million to settle a suit over the police shooting of a black man on the day he was to be married, a lawyer in the case said.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in 2007 in federal court, accused police of negligence, assault and civil rights violations in the Nov. 25, 2006, death of Sean Bell.

Bell, 23 at the time, was driving a sport utility vehicle near a strip club and struck a detective in the leg and hit a police vehicle before five police officers fired 50 rounds into the vehicle. None of the SUV's occupants was armed but police said they thought at least one was, The New York Times reported.

Three of the police officers were acquitted of manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges in state court while the other two were not charged criminally.

Federal prosecutors said in February they would not pursue a civil rights case because evidence did not warrant it.

Sanford Rubenstein, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs in the suit, said the settlement -- which was agreed to Tuesday -- was "fair and reasonable," the Times reported.

Detectives Endowment Association President Michael Palladino called the settlement "absurd."

"I think there is something seriously wrong with the entire picture," Palladino said, "because if you take a look at the situation in its entirety, it's that the police were there performing their lawful duty; Bell was intoxicated and he tried to run the police down."