Pubdate: Fri, 24 May 2002 Source: Newsday (NY) Copyright: 2002 Newsday Inc Contact: http://www.newsday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308 Author: Samuel Bruchey Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n783/a07.html (Cop Kills Bellport Man) 100 RESIDENTS MEET ON SHOOTING Police Reiterate Colon's Death Accidental; Some Seek More Info With some residents still mistrustful about the fatal shooting of a young man by a Suffolk police officer during a drug raid in Bellport last month, department officials publicly reiterated the shooting was accidental. More than 100 residents filled the Frank P. Long Intermediate School cafeteria for a two-hour meeting Wednesday evening that was by turns cordial and emotionally taut. "People have a right to know how it happened in our neighborhood," said Kathleen Seaton, whose son Jose Colon, 20, was killed when he was shot once in the head during the April 19 raid at a house he was visiting. Seaton, who organized the meeting and has initiated a wrongful death suit against Suffolk County, has otherwise retreated from publicly commenting. Turning to officers from behind a lectern, however, she asked when she would receive a comprehensive report of their investigation. Homicide Commander Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said his squad would complete its investigation within several weeks, and called it too important "to rush to the point where something gets overlooked." Some residents questioned what they described as overly aggressive tactics used for a raid on a house where only marijuana was suspected of being sold. More than 8 ounces of marijuana and a loaded rifle were seized from the house. Fitzpatrick and Det. Wes Daily said, however, that police were responding to a house many in the community complained was a scourge, and a location investigators believed contained loaded weapons. During the meeting, police again laid out the tragic beginning of the raid. Colon was struck after exiting the house when a lead officer discharged his weapon after being pushed from behind by another officer who was carrying a battering ram and tripped over a tree root. Two witnesses disputed that account, saying police were stopped, and the officer who fired the fatal shot wasn't bumped. "I'm trying to process it and it still doesn't make sense," Colon's aunt, Ana Maldonado of Bay Shore, said. "We wish it hadn't happened," Chief of Patrol Thomas Compitello replied. "Yeah," Maldonado said, "but it did." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth