In February 1999, Amadou Diallo, a young immigrant from the West African country of Guinea, was shot to death on the doorstep of his Bronx apartment building. Four police officers -- Sean Carrol, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy -- fired forty-one shots at Diallo, who was unarmed. Were they reckless cops who shot first and asked questions later, or were they men under pressure who made a tragic mistake? In The Trial of the Police Officers in the Shooting Death of Amadou Diallo: A Headline Court Case, Bryna J. Fireside tackles this difficult question. She takes a close look at the shooting, the trial that followed, and the controversial verdict. And she discusses the impact the case has had on police forces and the communities they are sworn to serve. Book jacket.