(nydn) The Queens judge who cleared three city cops of killing Sean Bell with a 50-bullet barrage has ordered all evidence from the controversial case turned over to the feds, sources said today. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman was asked for the evidence so the Justice Department could begin weighing if there are grounds to try the detectives on civil rights charges, the sources said. Queens prosecutors were to meet this afternoon with Bell's parents and fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, to assure them they are cooperating with the feds "even though the trial is over," sources said. While they are talking, staffers from the Queens district attorneys office will pick up a portable hard drive from the feds onto which the evidence will be downloaded. The sitdown comes a day after the Bell family took part in a massive but peaceful demonstration aimed at pressuring the government to go after detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver. Paultre Bell, the mother of Bell's two children, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. So were Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, the two survivors of the Nov. 25, 2006 shooting that killed Bell. There were 196 arrests in Manhattan and 23 more in Brooklyn. While this was going on, representatives from the Detectives' Endowment Association met in Washington with staffers from the House Judiciary Committee and urged them not to press federal charges against the detectives. The Rev. Al Sharpton began organizing Wednesday's massive show of civil disobedience after Cooperman cleared the detectives of all criminal charges on April 25. Bell, 23, was killed on his wedding day around the corner from the Queens strip joint where he'd just had his bachelor party. The three accused cops were members of an undercover unit that had been doing a prostitution sting at the Kalua Cabaret. In reaching his verdict, Cooperman had to consider whether the police were reckless and overreacted - or whether the victims were acting like drunken thugs and brought it on themselves.

Join BBN for free to post a comment. If you already have an account, please login here to post a comment. You will be returned to this page after logging in.