NY police cleared in 50-bullet wedding day shooting

NEW YORK Three New York City police detectives were acquitted on Friday in the killing of an unarmed black man in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day -- prompting angry demonstrations and a federal review.

A New York state judge cleared two officers of manslaughter and a third of reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23, who was shot, along with two friends, after a bachelor party at a strip club in November 2006.

Federal authorities said they would consider civil rights charges under a review by the Justice Department, federal prosecutors and the FBI.

They will "take appropriate action if the evidence indicates a prosecutable violation" of federal civil rights laws, the Justice Department said in a statement.

After the verdict, hundreds of demonstrators yelled, pushed and shoved as police, reporters and spectators packed the sidewalk outside the court building in the borough of Queens.

"They're murderers, criminals, and they are going to rot in hell where they belong," one man shouted.

Later, about 1,000 people marched from the courthouse to the site of the shooting, pumping fists, shouting "Justice for Sean Bell. NYPD go to hell" and counting from 1 to 50.