http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-sean-bell-settlement,0,784333.storyA long-awaited financial settlement with the city over the fatal police shooting of Sean Bell was an eerie birthday present for his intended bride, who controls the estate set up to take care of their two children.
Bell’s fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell turned 26 today, the day after reaching an agreement with the city for a $3.25 million cut of the more than $7 million the city will shell out to settle a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate and Bell’s two pals who survived the shooting.
Bell's friend Joseph Guzman, who was wounded and still has four bullets in his body will get $3 million. Another pal who was shot, Trent Benefield, collects $900,000.
Chad Rachman/N.Y.Post
Nicole Paultre Bell, former fiancee of police shooting victim Sean Bell, leaves Federal Court.
Paultre Bell said that neither the settlement nor her birthday were causes for celebration.
"There is no victory here," Paultre Bell said at her lawyer’s Brooklyn office. "Everyday is a juggle as a single mom. Things will never be the same without Sean."
Under the terms of the agreement, Paultre Bell can only use the money for the kids, Jada, 7 and Jordyn, 4, and at age 18 they have the control, according to her attorney Sanford Rubenstein. If the mother needs money for them before they are 18, she has to petition the judge and ask.
Rubenstein said he was getting the "normal" 33 percent retainer fee for representing the trio, and stands to net more than $2 million from the deal.
The city made the announcement yesterday in a statement.
"The city regrets the loss of life in this tragic case and we share our deepest condolences with the Bell family," Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo said. "The Sean Bell shooting highlighted the complexities our dedicated officers must face each day" and expressed the "hope that all the parties can find some measure of closure by this settlement."
Paultre Bell, who legally took Sean's last name after the slaying, called the settlement "fair."
Bell and his two friends were celebrating his impending nuptials when they were shot by plainclothes and uniformed cops in a hail of more than 50 bullets outside a club.
Cops said they fired when Bell, who had been drinking, accelerated his car and hit one of the officers trying to keep him from leaving the scene.
After an extensive investigation, three detectives were indicted in March 2007. Two were charged with manslaughter, and the third with reckless endangerment.
In April 2008, all three cops were acquitted, triggering demands for a federal civil-rights investigation. The Justice Department dismissed the civil-rights claim in February, but the lawsuit, brought by his fiancée continued until yesterday.
Benefield did not attend the press conference. Sources said he was mourning the death of a relative who had been fatally shot recently.
Guzman said he was ready to move on.
"No one wins with this settlement," Guzman said. "Sean will never be back. I am just looking to move on. I lost a friend and I don’t want to be here."
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