NEW YORK (PNN) - October 14, 2010 - The fiancée and friends of an unarmed man killed in a 50-bullet police shooting on his wedding day said they wanted justice. The legal system gave them money - more than $7 million. The city did what it has done time and time again: pay.

Nearly $1 billion has been paid over the past decade to resolve claims against the nation's largest police department, according to an investigation by The Associated Press. Some smaller departments also shell out tens of millions a year in payouts, but New York's spending on police claims dwarfs that of any other U.S. city.
Taxpayers foot the bill - New York officials say the payments cost less than insurance would, and officers themselves don't usually bear personal responsibility.

The $964 million in payouts covers everything from brutality cases to patrol-car wrecks to stationhouse accidents, and it includes settlements and trial awards. Some police officers have been sued again and again - including one officer who has been sued at least seven times on excessive force and brutality claims. Some law firms have made it their primary business to sue the city.

City lawyers call the payouts a hard-fought cost of policing a metropolis of 8.3 million people - a price officials work to minimize through officer training and discipline; and the city has prevailed in thousands of cases, including some deadly shootings.

"We're not pushovers," said Fay Leoussis, one of the city's chief lawyers.

But the city is literally paying for police mistakes without learning from them, critics say. In cases like the 50-bullet shooting, the city pays even when officers are acquitted of criminal charges and don't admit wrongdoing.

"Right now it's open season against the city. Just file a lawsuit, and you're going to get money," said City Council member Peter Vallone, who has sponsored a bill he hopes will make it impossible to pay out dubious claims. "Everyone makes out - except the taxpayer."

The nearly $7.2 million settlement in the Sean Bell case was the city's largest settlement ever in a fatal police shooting.

Three officers opened fire on a car carrying the unarmed Bell, 23, and two friends. The officers said they thought the men were armed, and the men had ignored orders to stop. Bell died in a hail of 50 bullets around the corner from a Queens topless bar where he had just had a bachelor party.

The officers were acquitted of manslaughter in the 2006 shooting in state court; federal prosecutors declined to charge them with civil rights crimes.

The shooting led to police reforms ranging from added firearms training to rule changes for undercover work. The officers still face disciplinary proceedings that could cost them their jobs.

Bell's friend Joseph Guzman, shot 17 times, ended up with $3 million.

However, the thug cops who committed the criminal assault against Bell and Guzman are not held responsible; the taxpayers are. That is the main reason why this abuse by police continues. It will only stop when the offending cops lose their jobs, pensions and property as a result of their criminal acts.