News Item in the Times

[jenk]

On Fourth Anniversary of Slaying, Diallo Gets Street in His Name

By DAISY HERNÁNDEZ

On the fourth anniversary of Amadou Diallo's death, city officials and community leaders gathered in the Bronx last night to rename the street where he died in a hail of police gunfire as Amadou Diallo Place.

Standing on a platform outside 1157 Wheeler Avenue, where Mr. Diallo, 22, a West African immigrant, was shot at 41 times by four police officers on Feb. 4, 1999, the Bronx borough president, Adolfo Carrión Jr., said, "This place will stand as a mark of a very low point in our history, but it will also stand as a mark of a high point in our community."

About a hundred residents and community advocates crowded around the platform, at times shouting "No justice, no peace." White candles flickered as people struggled to keep the flames from being blown out by the cold winds.

Kadiatou Diallo, standing next to the Rev. Al Sharpton, called the anniversary of her son's death a night of prayer and a night of memory.

For some residents, it was still a hard memory to bear. Lucy Ramos, 53, who has lived in the Soundview neighborhood for 30 years, said she had known Mr. Diallo, a street vendor from Guinea, by sight. Every year, on the anniversary of his death, she brings a bouquet of flowers and a candle and places them on the stoop of his building, she said.

Renaming the street after Mr. Diallo is good, she said, but she still thinks the issue is far from resolved.

"Look where the trial was held," she said. "That's what hurts us the most."

The trial of the four white police officers was moved to Albany after a judge said a fair trial was all but impossible in the city. The four men were acquitted in 2000.

The officers said they thought that Mr. Diallo, who turned out to be unarmed, had pulled a gun in the foyer of his apartment building. Later, a pager and wallet were found next to his body. He had 19 gunshot wounds.

Some city officials said they hoped that renaming the street would help the community to heal. The City Council approved the street renaming last May. "This helps it be recognized that something took place here," said State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., who introduced the bill when he was a councilman.

Several politicians attended the ceremony, including the Council speaker, Gifford Miller, and Joel Rivera, the Council majority leader.

The sign for Amadou Diallo Place, a one-block stretch of Wheeler Avenue, was unveiled at the corner of Wheeler and Westchester Avenues.

Nearby is a mural of Mr. Diallo that includes his smiling face and four police officers wearing the hoods of the Ku Klux Klan.