Another "Archangels" Case.

Michael Edward Bell Case

On November 9, 2004, a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer shot and killed Michael Edward Bell in front of his mother and sister, in the driveway of their residence.  The original police reports of the four officers claimed that a lieutenant had been physically holding Bell in a bear hug, bent forward at the hip, over the hood of the driver’s side of the car.  Those reports indicate that Bell had been shot with a semi-automatic hand gun placed directly against the side of his head by an officer who had been standing in front of that vehicle. They gave the specific impression that Bell had been shot in the left side of his head.  The four officers maintained this story, even testifying that Bell had been shot in the left side of his head, in depositions related to a civil case brought by the Bell family. It was at that time they learned that the autopsy report on Bell submitted by the medical examiner, showed that he had actually been shot in the right side of the head.

The police version of the incident was that Bell had resisted arrest after being stopped as he pulled up in front of his home, that four officers couldn’t subdue him, that he had tried to disarm one of the officers as they wrestled over the left front fender of a car that had been parked in the driveway.  They claimed the shooting officer had been in front of the car and placed his gun to Bell’s head and shot him.  Apparently, the officer who had been at the right of the lieutenant had caught his holstered gun under the left side mirror of the car and yelled “He’s got my gun!”

Both Bell’s mother and sister, who were on the porch just a few feet away, observed the shooting officer standing to the right of the lieutenant who was holding Bell and to the left of the officer who had stated “He’s got my gun.”  If Bell actually had the gun, the shooting officer, who was in between the lieutenant on his left and the other officer on his right, would have seen it and could have grabbed it, and would have been able to verify any possible threat before using deadly force.  Since the lieutenant had Bell slightly bent forward and was holding him around his arms in a bear hug and the shooting officer was between the lieutenant and the other officer who wore his gun on his right side, it appears that Bell wouldn’t have been physically capable of reaching the gun.  All evidence suggests that the shooting officer did not verify any real danger before killing Bell and that all officers involved got together and falsified the story to protect the shooting officer. 
  

Subsequently, “Archangels” reviewed the entire case and determined that the city’s insurance carrier’s attorneys, who were representing the police officers, had created and proffered a second version of the story.  In a video recorded reenactment, they attempted to portray Bell as twisting and turning his body at the time he was shot.  There had been no mention in neither the police reports nor the lieutenant’s deposition that Bell had been twisting and turning.  This new reenactment shows that the lieutenant would have been directly behind Bell and would have been struck by the bullet when it passed through Bell’s head, but there was no blood on his uniform, nor was he struck by the bullet.

The attorneys then proffered another version and video reenactment in which they claimed more new facts, also contrary to the forensic evidence and medical examiner’s report.  The contact wound on Bell’s head did not match the new story and the bullet casing ejected from the gun was found in a location opposite to where its trajectory should have taken it.  Additionally, eyewitnesses reported that the officer who did the shooting was not where the officers had claimed he had been at the time he fired the fatal shot. 

In a fourth version of the story, the officer who had fired the shot claimed that he had held his gun sideways, in a left twist “Gangster style,” and that was why the casing was found where it was.  This statement was contrary to the forensic evidence and the reports and affidavits of the medical examiner.  Also, it is absolutely contrary to the deposition testimony of the shooting officer who stated that he had been holding his gun slightly canted to a right angle.  A total of six different versions were presented to justify the shooting.  All were false.  They were given by the officers because the true facts and their real positions would have proven that there was no justifiable reason to murder Bell.

“Archangels” has filed a request for an investigation into the Bell shooting with the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the FBI.  Stay tuned.

The City of Kenosha eventually settled with the Bell family for 1.75 Million Dollars.