Posted on 08/06/2011 6:43:05 AM PDT by bkopto
A federal jury in New Orleans on Friday handed down all guilty verdicts on 25 counts in the infamous Danziger Bridge shooting case, in which current and former New Orleans police officers were charged with civil rights violations, conspiracy charges, and weapons charges in the shooting deaths of unarmed civilians following Hurricane Katrina.
In the infamous debacle in the chaotic days after the 2005 storm, police allegedly opened fire on a group that was crossing the bridge out of town, then lied after the fact, saying they had been fired upon and planting a gun on one of the victims. A 40-year-old man and 17-year-old boy were killed, and four others were injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlanticwire.com ...
“Poor” training and oversight my foot. They were letting thugs in that made Looter Guy look like a saint.
Terrible. Law enforcement is supposed to serve and protect; here they preyed on innocent people. Why?
As a local I am glad to see the end of this. ‘Danziger’ has been going on forever. Look- New Orleans was a war zone post Katrina. I have had first-hand reports from a nephew who was a paramedic on duty then. Shootings were common, bodies were everywhere. We’ll never know everything that happened-and MANY police were just as thuggish as the criminals who went wild.
BUT-back shooting is back shooting. If I am threatened by someone with a gun who then runs away and I shoot him in the back-what will the law do to me? These cops should be held to a higher standard. They claimed there were people shooting from the bridge, but no shell casings from guns other than theirs could be found.( and the asphalt was melted and scraped and sifted!) One individual was shot while face down on the ground. Indefensible.
I am pro law-enforcement, but picking people off and then covering it up is wrong any way you cut it.
The charge should have been murder for the shooters and accessories to murder for the others.
But then- Nagin and the administration should ALL be charged for negligent homicide in how they handled Katrina. Many died because they downplayed Katrina till the last minute. I was here- I know.
In the infamous debacle in the chaotic days after the 2005 storm, police allegedly opened fire on a group that was crossing the bridge out of town, then lied after the fact, saying they had been fired upon and planting a gun on one of the victims. A 40-year-old man and 17-year-old boy were killed, and four others were injured.
I think the guilty verdicts remove any question of allegedly in this incident.
When a country fights multiple low-intensity wars, soldiers are expected to act like cops, and cops start acting like soldiers.
We have to remember that the framers of our constitution were very big on individual liberty, protecting us from unreasonable searches and seizures, limiting the power of the state. But they did not have to contend with our big cities and levels of bureaucracy. Small goverenment is good. Police might have to be privitized to be more efficient.
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