Cops Acquitted of Diallo Murder

In an Albany courtroom today, the jury in the Amadou Diallo murder case returned "not guilty" for all four NYPD officers.

An unarmed man, loitering in the vestibule of his own apartment building, was shot, at close range, 19 times with 41 shots fired by 4 NYPD officers. The officers repeatedly claimed that all of their actions were taken in accordance with their training. Let's assume for a minute that they are telling the truth: doesn't that mean that there's something very wrong with the way NYC is training police officers?

Giuliani expressed his condolences to Diallo's family, saying that Amadou's death was a great tragedy. That seems hardly adequate. Giuliani is ultimately responsible for the kind of policing that takes place in New York. When the police become paramilitary in their zeal to win the "war on drugs" I guess you have to expect that they'll become as clumsy as the military is at policing civilian populations. Yet another reason the "war on drugs" isn't worth fighting or winning.

Apparently Diallo's death is a tragedy for which no one is going to be held responsible -- no one, that is, but Diallo who, the officers claimed, would still be alive today if he'd just been more "obedient".