Free Republic

NOPD keeps moving protest back, at the end, one arrested.

    Four years after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the City of New Orleans, leaving anarchy in its wake, the Department of Justice is reportedly putting on a full court press investigation of the police in that city, with the main focus being on two shooting incidents that left three people dead.    Let’s be up front about this: Since the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association (and nobody else!) stepped to file a landmark federal lawsuit to stop authorities in New Orleans from illegally seizing firearms in the hurricane’s aftermath, nobody has been held accountable for that treachery....

For the past several months, the federal building on Poydras Street has seen a steady stream of New Orleans police officers trudge in and out, all of them testifying before grand jurors gathering evidence of possible civil rights violations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- allegations that center on police misbehavior. Federal agents, meanwhile, have been studying police e-mails and documents obtained by subpoena -- as well as through a surprise search warrant executed on the New Orleans Police Department homicide office -- in an attempt to ferret out exactly what happened in the chaotic days after the storm....

Throughout the week, police detectives and on-edge residents were looking for a man impersonating a police officer who burglarized and threatened residents in three home invasions, forcing some of them to strip. On Friday morning, New Orleans police announced they had found their man, and it turns out he wasn't an impostor. Rather, he is a rogue rookie cop who used his badge while off-duty to victimize Hispanic men and women in the Mid-City area, authorities said.Darrius Clipps, 36, a patrolman of almost one year, appeared for work as scheduled Thursday evening, showing up at roll call for his night...

The New Orleans Police Department is advising the public to be on the look out for a man impersonating a law enforcement officer who forced his way into two homes over the past two days, forcing his victims disrobe and then demanding drugs before fleeing, according to NOPD spokeswoman Sabrina Richardson. In one case, he fondled the victim, Richardson said. On both occasions the suspect was dressed in a dark blue uniform style shirt with an unknown type of patch, she said. Police did not indicate where the incidents occurred, but said the first incident happened Sunday. The suspect told...

Late on the night of Jan. 18, just 24 hours after the murder of Wendy Byrne in the French Quarter, New Orleans police released a pair of computerized composite sketches of two teenagers suspected in the crime. In one, a doe-eyed youth with a buzz cut and pointy ears peers out from the page. The other features a teen with twists in his hair that fall to the tops of his ears. When the teens' mothers turned their sons over to New Orleans police detectives days later, police leaders heralded the "incredible" accuracy of the composites, saying one mother recognized...

The bridge operator on duty in May when the Judge Seeber Bridge's safety system failed and a New Orleans police officer plummeted to his death will be booked with negligent homicide, New Orleans police said Friday. The safety barrier on the Claiborne Avenue drawbridge was not in place at the time of the accident, and a preliminary investigation by the state transportation department noted that a series of mechanical breakdowns and a critical error by the bridge operator led to the death of veteran New Orleans Police Department Detective Tommie Felix. The NOPD's traffic fatality unit wrapped up its investigation...

Seven New Orleans police officers fired their weapons at a 22-year-old man who was killed early Thursday while sitting in a car outside his grandmother's house, Superintendent Warren Riley said Saturday. The seven were among nine officers reassigned in the wake of the fatal shooting.Riley said Adolph Grimes III sparked a "gunbattle" with officers when he fired at an unmarked police vehicle that pulled up next to his car. The officers, who were involved in undercover patrols, were wearing street clothes. Grimes died in the shooting near North Claiborne Avenue and Gov. Nicholls Street.Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said Grimes...

The 22-year-old man killed early Thursday in a police shootout was wounded 14 times, with 12 of the bullets hitting him in the back of his body, Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said.After releasing a terse statement about the shooting Thursday morning, New Orleans police officials ducked questions about the shootout Friday. Meanwhile, the family of Adolph Grimes III, a Brother Martin High School graduate, demanded a thorough criminal investigation, including a federal inquiry and an independent autopsy.Minyard said Friday evening that Grimes died after suffering 14 bullet wounds. Two bullets hit him in the front torso, and 12 struck...

.O. Woman Gets New Gun To Replace One Taken During Katrina By The confiscated gun has yet to be returned, says Cong. Steve Scalise and the Gun Owners of America Wednesday, October 22, 2008 A New Orleans woman whose gun was confiscated by law enforcement officers in the days after Katrina, and who was injured during the incident at her home, got a brand new 38-caliber revolver Wednesday, courtesy of the Gun Owners of America. 61-year-old Patricia Konie says getting a new gun is a great idea because now she's more afraid of police than she was before. Konie says...

Murder and attempted murder charges against seven New Orleans police officers, accused of shooting unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge after Hurricane Katrina, were tossed out by Criminal District Court Judge Raymond Bigelow, who concluded that an Orleans Parish prosecutor tainted the secrecy of the grand jury process by showing a piece of testimony to another officer. "The violation is clear, and indeed, uncontroverted. The state improperly disclosed grand jury testimony to another police officer," Bigelow said, reading his ruling from the bench. The judge also dealt a blow to the prosecution on two other pending defense challenges to the...

NEW ORLEANS, LA – A 35-year veteran police officer with the New Orleans Police Department was suspended, with only 15 minutes left on his last shift, for wearing the wrong uniform shirt. Sergeant Bobby Guidry was moving his personal belongings from his office to his car when he was informed by a supervisor that the older, powder-blue uniform shirt he was wearing was out of regulation. The department had recently changed from the powder-blue shirts to an unpopular all-black uniform following Hurricane Katrina. Superintendent Warren Riley, who has defended Sergeant Guidry’s suspension, says there are plans to switch back to...

The woman - who according to several witnesses announced that she was a New Orleans police officer - had come to the Treme Community Center to pick up a 7-year-old nephew and, for reasons unknown, became enraged at the driver of the car in front of her in the pickup line, witnesses said. Numerous witnesses said the woman relentlessly honked her car horn. As the situation escalated, she yelled expletives at the other driver and got halfway out of her car and brandished a gun, they said. At that point one of the witnesses called 911... Police Department spokesman Bob...

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley on Tuesday used the floor of the Superdome to display more than $1 million in new armament and other equipment, largely for use by the SWAT squad in emergency and riot situations, including a fully equipped mobile command post, two armored cars and modern assault rifles.

New Orleans (AP) -- A vagrant wanted for questioning in a rape overpowered a police officer who was trying to handcuff him, then shot her to death with her own weapon Monday, police said. The officer's death was a blow to this city, where hopes were high that a new year could hold back a wave of crime that has been a dark backdrop to the rebuilding effort since Hurricane Katrina. "When it hits home like this, it hits you tremendously," said Police Superintendent Warren Riley, who was charged with energizing a demoralized police force in the 2005 storm's wake....

NEW ORLEANS — A former police officer accused in the videotaped beating of a man in the French Quarter after Hurricane Katrina was acquitted Tuesday by a judge who heard the case without a jury. "I didn't even find this a close call," said District Judge Frank Marullo. Robert Evangelist, 37, had been charged with beating Robert Davis, 66, during an arrest videotaped by an Associated Press Television News crew the night of Oct. 8, 2005, about six weeks after Katrina. Evangelist, who elected to have his case heard by Marullo without a jury, pleaded not guilty to second-degree battery...

As authorities searched for ways to stem the violence that has scattered nine bodies across New Orleans since New Year, police also were investigating seven of their own for allegedly beating a man in the French Quarter. Two officers, including a 17-year veteran who has been disciplined repeatedly for misconduct, were reassigned to desk duty after a complaint by Ronald Coleman, who said he was beaten by officers Dec. 30. "The investigation is ongoing, but we felt it was necessary to immediately reassign two of the officers," said deputy chief Marlon Defillo, who heads the Public Integrity Bureau. "That's not...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2006 -- New Orleans police officials have requested Louisiana National Guardsmen remain on state active duty for another six months, a Guard spokesman said. Air Guard Lt. Col. Peter Schneider confirmed that New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren J. Riley has asked Gov. Katherine Blanco to extend the tours of 300 Guardsmen through June 2007. Guardsmen have been patrolling neighborhoods in the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged city since June, when five teenagers were killed over one weekend. If the governor does not extend the tours, the state deployment will end by the end of December. Over the Thanksgiving weekend,...

August 29, 2006 -- As the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is upon us, the men and women of the Police Association of New Orleans would like to take this opportunity to thank the NYPD, the Port Authority and the citizens of New York for your assistance in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Many of us worked side by side with your officers after last August and felt the pride and camaraderie that you must have felt when we sent assistance to New York after 9/11. We would also like to take this opportunity to address the recent comment...

There was a lot of talk during Katrina about the cops that went missing, but wasn't there an issue that some cops were on payroll that didn't actually exist. On the one year anniversary, I'm just wondering whatever happened to that story.

An eight-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department has been arrested and booked with armed robbery and malfeasance in office in connection with the "shakedown" of five Asian women working at a downtown massage parlor, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Saturday. An arrest warrant was issued for a second officer allegedly involved in the same robbery. Officer Joshua Burns, 28, resigned from the department after he was arrested late Friday on charges stemming from a Thursday armed robbery that police said involved Burns, officer Quincy Shelling and at least one other person. Police did not identify the massage parlor...

People carrying guns on the streets of New Orleans during an emergency will be stopped but their gun won’t be taken unless they can’t show that they are lawfully in possession of it, Chief Warren Riley said Thursday night on WWL’s INews cast. Trying to clear up something that has been the subject of much controversy since Katrina, Riley said that in another emergency situation, officers would check people on the street in possession of guns and will not take the weapons unless they have a criminal record, are mentally ill, or unable to prove they own the weapon. “They...

BELLEVUE, Wash., June 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is calling upon U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley over his announcement last week that police in his city would once again confiscate privately-owned firearms in the event of another catastrophic storm like Hurricane Katrina. During a live interview with a New Orleans radio station, Riley acknowledged that citizens may, under state law, carry firearms. He said, however, that police will confiscate firearms, and may arrest people, arguing that "During an exigent circumstance like that, we cannot allow people to walk...

Gun rights activists were up in arms Friday after New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley said he would confiscate weapons should disaster strike. The chief’s comments came after a federal lawsuit forced the city to return hundreds of firearms that were seized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In an interview with WWL Radio, Riley said his officers would seize guns from people on the streets if another storm was to hit New Orleans. “During a circumstance like that, we cannot allow people to walk the street carrying guns…as law enforcement officers we will confiscate the weapon if a person...

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Autopsy results obtained by CNN show a retarded man was shot in the back when he was killed by New Orleans police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This contradicts testimony by a police sergeant that the victim had turned toward officers and was reaching into his waistband when shot. "Clearly he was shot from behind," said famed New York pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who examined the body for the family's lawyer. A prosecutor said the case will go before a grand jury soon and acknowledged the investigation includes the possibility of police wrong-doing. Ronald...

The New Orleans Police Department is conducting an internal investigation into alleged payroll violations by the Captain of the Traffic Division and his administrative assistant. NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley announced the investigation into Captain Harry Mendoza and Sergeant Joseph Valiente Tuesday. "Public Integrity is interviewing the individuals involved in that right now," he said. "I have not got the final determination. They are in public integrity right now based on complaints that were received." Both men have been reassigned pending the investigation into alleged payroll fraud and neglect of duty. No further information was provided.

A handful of people showed up Monday to try to get back guns confiscated by the New Orleans Police Department after Hurricane Katrina -- and not many of those walked away with a weapon. "They told me the police took them the first two weeks after the hurricane, after that it was the ATF," said Charles Clark, 62, a retired law officer, who had an antique gun taken from his house after the Aug. 29 storm. "It's very frustrating. I know we had a storm and all, but there should be a way to find out who has your property."...

11250 Waples Mill Road    ·Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683www.NRAILA.org Mayor Nagin Continues to Snub the Second Amendment Monday, April 10, 2006 Fairfax, VA—Law-abiding citizens of New Orleans who were forced to relinquish their legally owned firearms to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) will have to wait, indefinitely, to regain their property.  The City of New Orleans revealed they have not returned any firearms, as Mayor Ray Nagin and the city have yet to set up a return process.“Mayor Ray Nagin continues to deny freedom by denying lawful citizens their Second Amendment rights,” stated National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President...

Three white NOPD officers came under investigation Tuesday for allegedly beating the wife of fellow black NOPD officer. In response, the NAACP has called for the Department of Justice to get involved. Early Tuesday, just after midnight, Dulcie Scott said she heard a knock on her door and screams for help because her daughter-in-law was being beaten by police officers. “I couldn’t believe it; it just didn’t make any sense so I opened the door and at that point I saw the officer pulling Joni by the hair. He was pulling her and he was knocking her against the police...

New Orleans -- Two fired New Orleans police officers and one current officer were indicted Wednesday in the videotaped beating of a retired teacher in the French Quarter last fall. The Oct. 8 beating of Robert Davis, 64, was caught on video by an Associated Press Television News crew covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The three officers were charged with battery and other offenses. Davis spent more than an hour testifying about the beating, which left him lying on the street, hands cuffed and blood flowing from his head and face. Afterward, he told reporters that he still has...

You saw what you saw. I saw what you saw. Anybody in the world who was paying attention to New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina likely saw what you saw: New Orleans police officers in the Tchoupitoulas Street Wal-Mart, their arms full of merchandise they couldn't possibly have needed and obviously had not bought. nly the ridiculously rigid would criticize anybody -- police officer or otherwise -- for taking items that the person genuinely believed were necessary to survive a life-threatening crisis. But only the ridiculously partisan would argue that police officers carrying out fishing rods and reels...

NOPD clears cops in looting probe They had OK to take clothing, officials say Saturday, March 18, 2006 By Michael Perlstein Staff writer Four New Orleans police officers have been cleared of looting allegations stemming from a news videotape that shows them taking items from the Uptown Wal-Mart two days after Hurricane Katrina, but the officers were suspended for 10 days for failing to stop civilians from cleaning out the ransacked store, the New Orleans Police Department said Friday. Advertisement The video, shot by an MSNBC crew inside Wal-Mart, shows the officers filling a shopping cart with shoes, clothes and...

NEW ORLEANS — Starting tomorrow the New Orleans Police Department will be sporting a new wardrobe. The new uniforms will be dark navy blue compared to the light blue shirts worn before. The only similarities are the stripes, patches, badges and name tags. Superintendent Warren Riley says these new uniforms are to help with the NOPD's new direction. He says they are striving to improve and look more professional. But they also change their uniforms to protect the city, "The reason for this change is in the aftermath of Katrina, a number of cleaners were looted. Hundreds of uniforms were...

A Louisiana grand jury will investigate several controversies involving police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including the theft of cars from a Cadillac dealership and the shooting deaths of two men suspected of firing on contractors. The grand jury will be the first impaneled here since Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29. District Attorney Eddie Jordan, whose offices were flooded in the storm, announced the investigations Wednesday from his temporary headquarters in a former nightclub. More than 200 vehicles _ including 88 new Cadillacs and Chevrolets _ were taken from a dealership amid the chaos after the hurricane hit....

The majority of seats on the first flight to Vegas, however, were filled by Nagin's aides, janitors and people who don't work for New Orleans at all.

New Orleans -- The city's police chief Thursday came out in support of an independent review board to investigate police shootings, a demand made by black ministers after a black man was killed by officers earlier this week. Police Superintendent Warren Riley met with the ministers for nearly two hours and said afterward that he will back their request to the City Council for an independent review process. The meeting came three days after police shot and killed Anthony Hayes, 38, who was wielding a hunting knife. Hayes' confrontation with 18 officers — but not the shooting itself — was...

NEW ORLEANS - The city's embattled police department will have another internal investigation to face after a swarm of converging officers gunned down a man brandishing a knife. A police spokesman said the officers who fired on the man Monday will be reassigned pending the outcome of the probe, but he defended their response, saying at least one officer's life was in danger just prior to the barrage of gunfire. "You have a subject who's lunging at them with a knife... swinging wildly at them and they're fearing for their life," said Officer David Adams, a police spokesman. "They had...

The NOPD has fired two officers accused of beating a 64-year-old man on Bourbon Street in October. A third officer was suspended after being accused of grabbing a reporter. Superintendent Warren Riley announced the dismissal of officers Robert Evangelist and Lance Schilling. Officer Stuart Smith was suspended for 120 days. The incident was caught on tape by the Associated Press and was publicized highly throughout the media as coverage was still intense in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The tape appeared to show several blows being delivered to 64-year-old Robert Davis that caused his head to slam against a wall....

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The city has fired 60 police officers and suspended more than 25 others who didn't show up for duty in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the city's police chief said Thursday as officials worked their way through a long list of disciplinary hearings. Most of the fired officers, 51 of them, were let go before the hearings began, Police Chief Warren Riley said. The 228 officers now involved in the disciplinary hearings left New Orleans without permission in the days after the hurricane hit, the chief told The Associated Press in an interview. "They did return....

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Warren Riley, sworn in as the New Orleans police chief a week ago, began revamping the department on Monday. The moves came as Riley works to help the department shake off the scandals that followed Hurricane Katrina — including desertion by some officers, thefts by some and charges of brutality that included the beating of a man that was captured by an Associated Press television crew. "We're trying to make the department more responsive and more efficient," Riley said. Capt. Steven Nichols, formerly in charge of technical services, was moved to assistant superintendent, the post Riley...

FEDS ASKING TOUGH QUESTIONS OF NOPD: INDICTMENTS PREDICTED XXXX DECEMBER 03, 2005 5:27 PM **EXCLUSIVE! MUST CREDIT THE DEAD PELICAN!** In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Feds are asking a number of very specific questions of the NOPD, source tell The Dead Pelican. Among the questions that the Feds are asking, one stands out: "Where are all these officers that we were paying you for?" As reported earlier, it is widely known that NOPD's real troop strength has never been more than approximately 1000 commissioned officers but the "official" number (that is, the number given out by the Superintendent's...

**EXCLUSIVE** New details are surfacing concerning New Orleans' former Superintendent of Police, Eddie "the hat" Compass, sources tell The Dead Pelican. Compass' abrupt resignation from NOPD was, according to sources, brought about by a number of factors that were rapidly approaching critical mass. In other words, the situation had reached a level at which things can no longer be concealed, hushed up or downplayed without calling in too many favors or costing too much money. In other words, Ray Nagin wasn't about to risk his political career to cover up for Compass any more than he already had without implicating...

Police trying to raise money with arrests, says driver 07:39 AM CST on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 Bob Greene / WWL-TV Reporter Scott Aertker never imagined his drive home from work last Friday evening would go so wrong so fast, when he was arrested for what he called minor traffic violations that should have only resulted in a ticket. WWL-TV Scott Aertker claims police arrested him for minor traffic violations and added additional charges after he was transported to jail for booking. Aertker has since become one of many New Orleans to have complained of unfair treatment by city police....

A former New Orleans police officer is facing federal charges for allegedly driving a vehicle looted from a Cadillac dealership across state lines. Willie Earl Bickham Jr., 36, was charged with felony interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle after his arrest in Houston, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said Wednesday. Bickham, who resigned from the police department the week after Hurricane Katrina, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Houston police said Bickham admitted taking the truck. Letten said crossing state lines in a stolen vehicle threw the matter into his jurisdiction. The federal government is trying to send...

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An internal investigation within the Baton Rouge Police Department triggered by complaints from out-of-state law enforcement agencies that helped with storm detail has concluded that city officers did not break the law, police say. But violations of department policies and procedures were found, authorities said Monday. During a news conference, Police Chief Jeff LeDuff would not say what prompted New Mexico State Police and Michigan State Police to refuse to patrol with his officers after Hurricane Katrina. He said only that "nothing was found to be criminal" and that "everything involved policy and procedure." In...

Police this morning arrested a former New Orleans police officer believed to have deserted the force during the hurricane crisis, officials said. The unidentified man, who was driving a stolen car, was pulled over during some kind of traffic stop in the 10300 block of the North Freeway around 11 a.m., said Sgt. Nate McDuell. When approached by police, the man, who had a firearm, identified himself as a New Orleans police officer, McDuell said. Authorities learned, however, that the man was no longer an officer for the New Orleans Police Department because he had quit his job in lieu...

Jeff Crouere says, among other things, this: …Business owners are complaining that looting is continuing in many areas of the city, even with so few people in New Orleans. If crimes are being committed with a reduced population, assistance from other police forces and the National Guard, what is going to happen when more people come back to the city and all this help leaves? It could be that there is a severe lack of officers. Beside the 249 who have been dismissed for desertion, there are allegations surfacing that hundreds more are on the payroll as “phantom officers,” people...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Eddie Compass, who resigned as the New Orleans police chief four weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, will work as a security consultant for a hotel group. Compass said he had numerous job offerings before deciding to take the position with New Orleans Fine Hotels, a collection of 11 hotels in the city's historic districts. Compass' resignation from the police department was unexpected, although the force had been wracked by desertions and disorganization in Katrina's aftermath. As the city slipped into anarchy during the first few days after Katrina, the 1,700-member police department saw many...

Inside Hurricane Katrina []Tuesday, November 1, 2005, at 9P August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina, a category four hurricane, hits land and storms across Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana leaving in her wake a trail of devastation. Now, in this two-hour special, the National Geographic Channel will take viewers onan in depth examination of Katrina and uncovers the decisions and circumstances that impacted countless Gulf of Mexico residents. Why were so many people left in the path of the storm and why was the response so delayed? Also airs: Wednesday, November 2, 12A Wednesday, November 2, 8:00P NOPD after KarinaPremieres Tuesday, November...

NEW ORLEANS - Fifty-one members of the New Orleans Police Department — 45 officers and six civilian employees — were fired Friday for abandoning their posts before or after Hurricane Katrina. "They were terminated due to them abandoning the department prior to the storm," acting superintendent Warren Riley said. "They either left before the hurricane or 10 to 12 days after the storm and we have never heard from them." Police were unable to account for 240 officers on the 1,450-member force following Katrina. The force has been investigating them to see if they left their posts during the storm....