Preparing to Protest in Manhattan

(New York - WABC, December 15, 2006) (WABC) -- Reverend Al Sharpton is announcing details of a major protest taking place in Manhattan tomorrow, in memory of police shooting victim Sean Bell.

His news conference comes as startling new video surfaces from the night Bell was gunned down.

It shows three other men were almost hit by gun fire, as well as and two officers running for cover.

Eyewitness News reporter Patricia Wu has details from Lower Manhattan.

At 9 a.m. Saturday, before the march even begins, Sean Bell's family, friends and shooting victim Trent Benefield will be gathering to speak at Reverend Sharpton's House of Justice Church. Then, at noon, the march begins at 59th Street and 5th Avenue.

Sharpton would not say how far the group will march or how many people are expected to attend, except to say he expects a lot. He did explain why the march is set for 5th Avenue.

"This is the season where many will be shopping for trinkets and toys," Sharpton said. "We will be shopping for justice and making a moral appeal to this city and this nation."

There is also startling new video from the night in Jamaica, Queens when Sean Bell died in a barrage of police bullets.

Nightline's Martin Bashir conducted an investigation into the controversial shooting and has new details.

He says it is an astonishing piece of video footage, because it's more than 100 feet from where the shooting took place.

The new video comes from security cameras inside the AirTrain terminal just across the street from where Sean Bell was shot.

One round nearly hits a commuter after smashing through the glass of the terminal. That man is seen running for his life while a second security camera shows two police officers running for cover.

Bashir says the AirTrain platform was behind this officer, so the implication is that the officers may have been firing across each other.

Trent Benefield, one of the men shot repeatedly by police, told ABC's Nightline that he tried running too, pulling himself out of Bell's bullet-riddled car.

Benefield said he and his friends assumed the shooters were local criminals who decided to target them. He says not in their wildest dreams did they imagine it was cops firing at them.

Trent Benefield: "I opened the door and jumped out. Started running. Scared."

Benefield said if he was aware the shooters were police, he would have stopped immediately.

There are several investigations into the shooting still underway and a Queens Grand Jury has the Bell case under review.

From ABC's Nightline:

Bashir: Did you hear one or two shots? Or did you hear a lot of shots.
Benefield: I heard a lot of shots.
Bashir: It was just like a hail of gunfire?
Benefield: Yes it was.
Bashir: What happens next?
Benefield: I felt myself hit.
Bashir: Where were you hit first?
Benefield: I don't what leg I was hit in. I know, I think it was my left leg.
Bashir: And then you got hit again?
Benefield: Yes.
Bashir: What did you do?
Benefield: I opened the door and jumped out. Started running. Scared.
Bashir: How far were you able to run, given that you'd been shot in both of your legs?
Benefield: I took about 25-30 steps before I was hit again.
Bashir: So they shot you as you were running away?
Benefield: Yes they did.
Bashir: Where did they shoot you?
Benefield: Like, right behind, like under my butt.
Bashir: Again, did they say 'police, stop?'
Benefield: No they didn't. I had no idea it was police.
Bashir: You still had no idea, even while you were running from the car, that these were police officers.
Benefield: No idea.

Sharpton says the group will be marching in silence. He also says Bell's finace and the couple's little girl, who turns four tomorrow, will be leading the march. If there is no change, organizers say the next step will be civil disobedience.

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