Giuliani says Clinton's comments on Diallo motivated by politics

March 5, 2000
Web posted at: 1:25 a.m. EST (0625 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says President Clinton's comments regarding the Diallo shooting are being used as a campaign issue to benefit Hillary Clinton, Giuliani's opponent for a U.S. Senate seat.

Giuliani said he trusts the verdict of the jury, rather than President Clinton's opinion on the matter. At a California fund-raiser Friday night, Clinton said he believed race was a factor in the shooting.

Clinton said many believe "if it had been a young white man, in a young all-white neighborhood, it probably wouldn't have happened."

Last week a racially mixed jury found four white officers not guilty in the shooting death of African immigrant Amadou Diallo.

The unarmed Diallo was shot at outside his Bronx home in February of 1999.

In his first public comments on the case, Clinton said he's not trying to second-guess the jury that acquitted four white New York police officers of second degree murder charges.

Earlier Monday, lawyers for the four acquitted officers said they will meet with Attorney General Janet Reno's top deputy and urge him not to pursue civil rights charges, as Diallo's family is urging.

One of the lawyers says there's no basis for such a prosecution, and he says the acquittals came after a fair trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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New York City Police Department Web Site
Capital Region Justice For Diallo Committee

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