New York: Black and Blue

The four cops who killed Amadou Diallo are acquitted, but the case will go on raising questions about race and crime fighting, sending tremors right through the November elections

The four white policemen had fired 41 bullets at the young African immigrant; 19 hit their mark. Prosecutors brought six alternative charges against each of the cops; none of them stuck--neither of the counts of murder, nor the two of manslaughter; not homicide, not reckless endangerment. On Friday, as TV cameras recorded the verdict in an Albany, N.Y., courtroom, the only words that registered were "not guilty," drummed out again and again, 24 times by the time the last defendant was fully cleared. About 140 miles to the south, in New York City, where the killing took place, where it was...

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