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For 5 Officers, No Shots Fired for Years, and Then 50 at Once

By MICHAEL WILSON and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

The identities and career paths of the police officers involved in Saturday?s fatal shooting of an unarmed bridegroom in Queens began to slowly come into focus yesterday, revealing a handpicked team of officers responsible for several hundred arrests between them without ever having fired a round in the line of duty.

The first to open fire Saturday is a 28-year-old black man of Haitian descent who lives with his mother in Brooklyn. One officer is white, a 12-year veteran, who has made by one account more than 600 arrests. And a third, the youngest, recently transferred to the team after four years working in Midtown Manhattan where he was known for his wit, street smarts and dry sense of humor.

The Police Department, under orders from Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, refused to identify or provide biographical information on any of the officers, citing concerns for their safety. But two of their names and biographical information on a third have emerged in interviews with acquaintances and people familiar with the case.

The shooting, with five officers firing a total of 50 rounds at the car that was carrying three men leaving the Club Kalua, a strip club in Jamaica, has prompted political and community outrage. The team of officers consisted of five detectives ? one of them a woman ? an officer and a lieutenant. They were part of a team investigating the bar for narcotics and prostitution. Neither the female detective, who was working undercover, nor the lieutenant opened fire.

A second detective working undercover, a man, suspected one of the three men leaving the club of carrying a gun and followed them to their car, according to officials familiar with the officers? account of events.

The male undercover officer is 28, a six-year veteran. He fired the first shots after confronting the men and being hit by their car. An acquaintance of the officer said yesterday that Saturday?s shooting had left him ? a little shaky,? adding, ?He was upset.?

The officer grew up in Brooklyn, is single and lives with his mother, the acquaintance said. He has only 50 or 60 arrests because he has been undercover for most of his career, the acquaintance said. The number is low because undercover officers are not usually credited with arrests and, in fact, are expected to leave the scene before other officers make arrests, to protect their cover. He has one citation for meritorious police duty.

?He feels very bad for the family of the deceased,? the acquaintance said. ?He feels badly that this had to come to this. He sincerely, sincerely felt that he was in mortal danger. He?s never fired his gun before and he hopes he will never fire it again.?

He fired a total of 11 shots as the other officers also fired. The bridegroom, Sean Bell, who was to be married that day, was killed, and his two friends wounded.

One detective, Michael Oliver, 35, fired 31 rounds, according to an individual who knew the identities of the officers involved but was not authorized to release them.

Detective Oliver, who is white, joined the department 12 years ago, and has more than 600 arrests to his name, and multiple arrests involving guns, which the individual said underscored a history of restraint with his own firearm. His name was reported yesterday in The Daily News and The New York Post.

The lowest-ranking member of the team was Officer Michael Carey, 26, with four and a half years in the department, a fast-rising officer with a dry sense of humor, according to those who worked with him at the Midtown South Precinct in Manhattan. He began as a member of an impact team, a group of several officers assigned to an area experiencing a spike in crime.

A sergeant at Midtown South who knew Officer Carey personally and had supervised him there said: ?Some people come out with a drive, and some people are lazy kids. He was a good learner. He excelled more than some other cops.?

Officer Carey had made more than 50 arrests during his first year in Operation Impact, breaking up drug and prostitution scams in Hell?s Kitchen, the sergeant said. ?You got to be street smart. You got to be aware. He proved himself.?

When it came time to move up, Officer Carey was promoted directly to the precinct?s Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit, which the sergeant said ?was showing a lot of confidence in him.?

?Usually you get patrol. They sent him right to S.N.E.U., because he was so good,? the sergeant said. ?They saw his drive.?

Two months ago, the sergeant said, Officer Carey was transferred to the vice squad in Queens.

The sergeant described Officer Carey as quiet, with a dry wit. ?He?s not the type to run off his mouth,? the sergeant said.

The highest-ranking officer at the shooting was Lt. Gary Napoli, 48, with 22 years on the job. He took cover when the shooting began and did not fire, the police said. A man answering his telephone at his home in Westchester County said, ?Goodbye, no comment,? and referred calls to the department?s public affairs office before hanging up.

Lawyers for all of the officers who fired their weapons have said their clients will waive immunity and appear before the grand jury investigating the shooting. Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney, whose office is leading the inquiry, has acknowledged that his office has been contacted by lawyers for the men.

Yesterday, a person involved in the inquiry said that investigators had requested reams of evidence, including photographs, 911 tapes and ballistics reports from the Police Department, as well as past complaints about the club and telephone records of the officers involved.

Prosecutors received the Police Department?s preliminary report yesterday, which the person said raised as many questions as it answered, adding, ?We?ve just begun to scratch the surface.?

Commissioner Kelly said investigators located another witness yesterday. ?We have identified another witness and he is being debriefed now,? the commissioner said at a news conference. Paul J. Browne, a police spokesman, later said the witness had been a customer of the club that night. ?He?s in the immediate vicinity of the shooting when it happened,? he said. ?We?re talking to him now. He?s an independent civilian witness.?

Another law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said investigators were looking for several witnesses in the area.

?Based on certain witness statements, there are other people who were walking to their cars at the time,? the official said. ?We can?t say they saw it, but they may have.?

Investigators also plan to review recordings from video cameras inside and outside the club, in an effort to identify the approximately 40 patrons inside.