Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy, 2000 News

New York City plainclothes police officers who faced trial on charges of second-degree murder for showering with 41 bullets unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo, were acquitted of all charges in Feb. The not-guilty verdicts sparked nonviolent protests in the streets of Diallo's Bronx neighborhood, and many citizens and public figures wondered aloud if the outcome would have been different had the victim been white.