Mixed Thoughts On Acquittal Of Alleged NY Cop Killers

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I don't have to tell you that in this country, the loosest accusation or assumption of shooting one or more of those designated to enforce the law by a Black man is guilt simply by default; way before the trial begins.


Usually whenever a member of the frat-like police organizations is angry, you can bet that's a good day for humanity.

Recently the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) President Pat Lynch stood outside of Brooklyn Supreme Court and told the New York Daily News, as reported on December 18: "This mongrel today got away with murder."

I could make an issue of his use of that all-too-familiar racial epithet, but you have to remember, the guy's last name is Lynch. And he's in-charge of the PBA. Also, the reason he's fuming is that the unthinkable just happened; a 35-year-old Black man had just been found not guilty of the murder of a police officer, Russell Timoshenko.

I don't have to tell you that in this country, the loosest accusation or assumption of shooting one or more of those designated to enforce the law by a Black man is guilt simply by default; way before the trial begins. Your court appointed attorney doesn't really defend you; hell, your hired attorney really ain't bustin' no sweat for you either, and the DA is pulling all kinds of tricks to make sure the jury is filled with people as far outside of your block as humanly possible.

Given these sure-fire eventualities of nature, how then does the accused, Robert Ellis, literally "get away" with murder? I know what a few of you outside of New York are thinking; maybe he really didn't do it and the jury ruled accordingly. I say to you kind sir or madam, what in the hell has truth ever had to do with any of this? When the cops want their pound of flesh, they get it. If the cops themselves are the pound of flesh, they get away with it.

Reality itself rarely is allowed to enter the courtroom. Historically Lynch and his legal team make sure it stays that way; this time the case looked like a no-brainer. But a jury of seven women and five men felt otherwise.

Back on July 9, 2007 Timoshenko and officer Herman Yan stopped a BMW after reportedly finding that the plates didn’t match. Both officers approached either side of the car and at some point were met with gunfire, according to some media reports. There were three men in the car; Ellis, Dexter Bostic and Lee Woods.

According to the Daily News all three got away for a while but Woods was caught after 16 hours while Bostic and Ellis fled the City. Bostic was caught after 63 hours around the Poconos while dashing across Route I80; Ellis was said to have endured more time in the woods and sleeping on rocks. After 77 hours, he was found by a US Marshall and was reported to have begged for his life.

Timoshenko died four days later of his wounds. Reportedly Woods told police that it was Bostic who shot the officer twice in the face and Ellis who shot Herman Yan. Don't get me wrong; neither Ellis nor his two buddies are to be mistaken as freedom fighters.

They are not Mumia Abu-Jamal, H. Rap Brown, or Geronimo Pratt by any stretch of the imagination. In recent years however, there has been an increase in typical street thugs who shoot police officers based on bustamove false-ego and simple-mindedness than.

As it is, some bloggers have considered the Ellis verdict to be Sean Bell in reverse, with the cops as victims this time; but it's not. As readers recall Bell is the innocent Black man who was murdered on the morning of his wedding when cops fired more than 50 bullets into his car. There wasn't nearly enough bullets coming from the shooters’ car.

Still, Black shooters are trained through ghetto and pop culture to only kill other Blacks.

Though Woods claims Ellis shot Yan –who is now a Detective—the jury no-doubt based their ruling on the lack of DNA and fingerprints on any fired gun. Ellis claims he was just the driver; that the three friends weren't all lumped together at the same trial is because they turned on each other.

Ellis will still do time for weapons possession, unlike Bostic who was found guilty by a separate jury the next day and will surely get life without parole, as no-doubt will Woods.

The only good news is that Pat Lynch and the NYPD's court of opinion vest has been compromised; but at the loss of a rookie officer.

Just as the pundits said about the Bell verdict, it's just a sad unfortunate situation for all families.

Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Challenger. Ccontact him at pointblankdta@yahoo.com

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