[Malum Prohibitum]

Police Officers Indicted in New Orleans
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061228/D8MA45FO0.html

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Seven police officers were indicted Thursday on murder or attempted murder charges in a pair of shootings on a bridge that left two people dead during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The shootings took place under murky circumstances six days after the storm and became one of the most widely cited examples of the anarchy that descended after Katrina.

Two young men were killed and four people wounded on the Danziger Bridge, which spans the Industrial Canal.

At the time, the sweltering city was still littered with corpses as rescuers tried to evacuate stranded residents and looters ransacked stores.

Police initially said the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings occurred after shots were fired at Army Corps of Engineers workers.

According to a police report, several officers responded to a radio call that two fellow officers had been hurt. When they arrived, seven people were seen running, and four began firing at police, the report said. The officers returned fire.

The victims were Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally retarded man, and James Barsett, 19. The coroner said Madison was shot seven times, with five wounds in the back.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

From a post at THR by a Louisiana resident:

What Happened on New Orleans' Danziger Bridge? [MP Note: The Gist Sheet, available at this link, quite clearly has somebody else's handwriting adding to the bottom that Mr. Madison shot at the officers and then threw his gun in the canal]

Lance Madison vs City of New Orleans et al. (pdf file)

You can find much information, including the autopsy report of Ronald Madison, and the New Orleans Police Department Gist Sheet describing the Danziger Bridge incident at the two links above. There is much more than meets the eye here. One innocent man, Lance Madison, was framed over a year for murder. Two innocent people were murdered as they cowered begging for their lives. Others were horribly maimed for life. None were shooting at relief workers, as was claimed by the NOPD. They had no guns. They had no means of defense.

The main complainant on Sept 4, 2005 was a man named David Ryder who was posing that day as a St. Landry Parish deputy sheriff. He is the person who identified Lance Madison as a sniper. But David Ryder isn't an officer of the law. He's a private citizen from Opelousas, La., who drove to New Orleans after Katrina to help out with rescues.

One of the dead, Ronald Madison, a 40 year old retarded man, was shot five times in the back, and twice more, equalling seven times, not once as the New Orleans police claim. Jose Holmes was shot twice in the abdomen, at close range, while he cowered behind a concrete barricade with a wounded arm. He now wears a colostomy bag and has limited use of one arm. Susan Bartholomew states: "When I look, we're all on the ground and all you can see is blood. Everywhere. You can hear everybody hollering, moaning, everybody been shot and in pain. My right arm was on the ground lying next to me. The only thing that was attached to it was a piece of skin. It had been shot off." It is believed she lost that arm to a close range shotgun blast. It did not fall off on it's own.

What crime had these people committed? Trying to reach safety after a natural disaster.

Disagree if you like, paint the incident anyway you chose. The shooters on the Danziger Bridge are finally going to trial, and not even Police superintendent Warren Riley can prevent it.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/ ... xml&coll=1

Seven New Orleans police officers were indicted Thursday on an array of murder and attempted-murder charges stemming from a shooting on the Danziger Bridge six days after Hurricane Katrina, which victims have portrayed as an ambush by police that left two dead and four wounded.

The state grand jury refuted the New Orleans Police Department account of what happened on Sept. 4, 2005, which had been portrayed by officers as an appropriate response to reports of both sniper fire and people shooting at police officers near the bridge, on Chef Menteur Highway in eastern New Orleans.

The grand jury separately cleared Lance Madison, a man whom police arrested that day and booked with attempted first-degree murder for allegedly shooting at law enforcement.

. . .

Four pages long.

No bond on the murder counts, $100,000 on the attempted murder counts?

Prosecutors talking about the death penalty.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

And guess who was not even in uniform?

" . . . the people on the bridge were confronted by a hail of gunfire coming from a group of men in "dark clothing" who had emerged from the back of a rental truck at the foot of the bridge, the lawsuits said.

These men turned out to be the seven heavily armed, out-of-uniform police officers indicted on Thursday, although in the lawsuits, the victims say they never identified themselves as such.

In his lawsuit, Jose Holmes Jr. describes jumping behind a concrete barrier to escape the bullets. Officers shot Holmes several times even though he lay prone on the ground, the lawsuit alleges, One officer stood over him and shot him twice in the abdomen, according to the suit."


Of course, those are just allegations in a lawsuit.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

:shock: What is this?

"But according to documents gathered by the attorneys representing Madison and the other victims, Ryder was not in fact a sheriff's deputy, from St. Landry or anywhere else. Indeed, he has a criminal record that includes a conviction for false imprisonment, arrests for battery on a police officer and possession of cocaine, according to court documents from Nacogdoches County, Texas."

:shock:

 

[Macktee]

Isn't Atlanta's current police chief the former chief of New Orleans?

Sounds like he got out while the getting was good...

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 09,00.html

Hundreds of people today gathered at a New Orleans jail in support of seven police officers charged in relation to a deadly shooting in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The officers, who are accused of murder and attempted murder, arrived at the jail this morning to face the charges. They were greeted by a crowd of more than 200 - including many other police officers - who applauded them and chanted: "Heroes, heroes"

:?

What is so particularly "heroic" about shooting an unarmed retarded guy in the back multiple times?

As for the fact that they stayed in the city - that is not heroic. That is their job. Heroism requires going beyond what one is obligated to do.

 

[Rammstein]

Hero is thrown around way too much these days.

 

[foshizzle]

Most of the crowd that chanted "Heroes, Heroes" were other officers or those sympathetic to them who listened to the defense pleas for support.

The whole situation is a cluster. Plain and simple. What I find amazing is that the death penalty is even being talked about... if anyone should be subject to the death penalty it is Nagan... that bastard directly caused more deaths than any of those cops. Not like they should be let go, but it's amazing to me. Not only did he totally shirk his responsiblity as a mayor and ultimately, that of his responsiblity as the primary disaster preparedness and recovery representative of his district, but he violated darn near everyones constitutional rights, guns being just one part, as he sat and watched it happen.

It's just a chocolate city itching for some sort of justice in the otherwise deplorable management of the entire situation. Scapegoats are needed right now to take heat off those that really deserve the blame. If it weren't for the hurricane and subsequent civil unrest, these cops would all get 3 day suspensions with pay... sad situation either way, but that's the way it is. Lose - Lose. Thank God I don't live there.

 

[wwomack]

... It's just a chocolate city...

Is that a racial slur or am I misunderstanding you?

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

... It's just a chocolate city...

Is that a racial slur or am I misunderstanding you?

Yes, it is a racial slur, but foshizzle is just quoting Mayor Nagin. Do an internet search. Mayor Nagin made this statement after Katrina. He then later issued an apology, saying he did not mean it and white people were welcome, too.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

If it weren't for the hurricane and subsequent civil unrest, these cops would all get 3 day suspensions with pay...

What? You must be kidding. From every indication, these officers appear to have committed some rather heinous crimes.

 

[Foul]

If it weren't for the hurricane and subsequent civil unrest, these cops would all get 3 day suspensions with pay...

What? You must be kidding. From every indication, these officers appear to have committed some rather heinous crimes.

The N.O. police are notorious for their almost total corruption. They're so evil that they are legendary...even in hell.

 

[Macktee]

I can't find the article, but two of the indicited cops now say they only said what they did to the grand jury because they were promised immunity. Obviously, they didn't get it!

Lesson to be learned here; never trust a DA!

 

[foshizzle]

Is that a racial slur or am I misunderstanding you?

It's a racial slur all right, but it wasn't by me. As Malum stated, I took that from the Mayor himself. I guess it's obvious, but that man just infuriates me. I remember when he made that comment and I thought, "what a horrible statement... he's dividing the city even further!" I just can't find anything that he did that was right! Even after the disaster and partially into the cleanup, he dares to say that the city should be "chocolate"... one of the cool things about New Orleans was it's cultural diversity and statements like that just work to get rid of what they were all about...

What? You must be kidding. From every indication, these officers appear to have committed some rather heinous crimes.

I meant to imply that had Katrina not happened and the extensive media coverage and the desire to get at least a few people in trouble, these guys wouldn't have been in this much trouble. New Orleans was/is even more corrupt than Chicago. Heck, a good majority of the police up and left as soon as the hurricane hit... that shows their dedication to the city and it's residents. Sure, they all have families, but that is part of the job. I was in the military... if there was a war I just couldn't walk off base, leave the state and see if my loved ones were OK.

I hope the cops get the punishment they deserve, if any. I also hope the people who shot at them, if they did, get punished as well. News from that city just gets me mad. I think the National Guard is still patrolling down there.

 

[Gunstar1]

My sister and her husband (he is a native NO) moved out of NO after the hurricane and moved to Macon. Nagin was a reason they left, knowing with people like him in charge it would never be the same. That and loosing most all (99%) of there possesions to water damage.

 

[USMC - Retired]

My sister and her husband (he is a native NO) moved out of NO after the hurricane and moved to Macon. Nagin was a reason they left, knowing with people like him in charge it would never be the same.

So they moved to Macon?! :shock: Don't they know that the mayor in Macon is cut from the same cloth as Nagin? :?

 

[wwomack]

It's a racial slur all right, but it wasn't by me. As Malum stated, I took that from the Mayor himself. I guess it's obvious, but that man just infuriates me. I remember when he made that comment and I thought, "what a horrible statement... he's dividing the city even further!" I just can't find anything that he did that was right! Even after the disaster and partially into the cleanup, he dares to say that the city should be "chocolate"... one of the cool things about New Orleans was it's cultural diversity and statements like that just work to get rid of what they were all about...

I got the reference when I read it. I just wasn't sure from the context whether you meant it sarcastically or not. I figured you did but just wanted to make sure.

 

[Gunstar1]

My sister and her husband (he is a native NO) moved out of NO after the hurricane and moved to Macon. Nagin was a reason they left, knowing with people like him in charge it would never be the same.

So they moved to Macon?! :shock: Don't they know that the mayor in Macon is cut from the same cloth as Nagin? :?

Yes, she went to med school in Macon. However, in GA if the mayor screws up really big, the people or the state will step in and do something... not so in LA. The state gov. is almost as (or just as) corrupt as the locals in NO and the citizens re-elect those that screw up most. At least in GA people like that generally loose their job (Cynthia McKinney).

 

[Tinkerhell]

Yeah you say that, but then we've been blessed with C. Jack here in Macon for more than one term & those of us with 1/2 a brain tried & failed to get him impeached. And though he might not have been openly as crooked & stupid & racist as Nagan he ain't far off....

Less than a year left of Mr Ellis though. Hopefully this area can start pulling itself up out of the gutter after he goes.