Sharpton Wants Street Renamed for Sean Bell

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who spearheaded the campaign to bring New York City Police to justice for shooting to death 23-year-old Sean Bell on the eve of his wedding, wants the city to rename a Queens street after the slain groom.

"This has something to do with our community embracing and using as example a young man that was on his way to doing what was right and his community rallied around him. That's what streets are named for," said Sharpton during a meeting in Harlem Saturday.

The head of the National Action Network, joined by City Comptroller-elect John Liu, is urging the City Council to follow the lead of the City Council Committee on Parks and Recreation, which voted in support of a proposal to rename a stretch of Jamaica on Liverpool Street.

Bell and two friends were gunned down by police during a confrontation with undercover officers outside a Queens’ strip club in November 2006. Three officers were acquitted in the case.

While several groups say that renaming the street would send a positive message throughout New York and beyond, the police detectives’ union says that such a move would be an insult to law enforcement in the city.