On May 7 2008, demonstrators took part in acts of civil disobedience at One Police Plaza in protest of the not guilty verdict of the three police officers in the Sean Bell Case. The demonstration effectively shut down vehicle traffic across the Brooklyn Bridge in both directions as well as five other major traffic arteries in NYC. No acts of violence were committed during the city-wide demonstration.

On November 25 2006, Sean Bell and his two friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were shot fifty times by undercover police. The incident occurred outside Club Kalua in Jamaica Queens, where they attended Bell’s bachelor party. Sean Bell was to be married the following day.