July 14, 2010 10:30 PM
Cops Could Get Death in Post-Katrina Shootings (video)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis
Excerpt:
http://www.truth-out.org/new-orleans-police-violence-trial-begins-today/1308853109
Excerpt:
Friday 24 June 2011
by: Jordan Flaherty, Truthout | News Analysis
Jury selection began June 22 in what observers have called the most important trial New Orleans has seen in a generation. It concerns a shocking case of police brutality that has already redefined this city's relationship to its police department, and radically rewritten the official narrative of what happened in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina. Five police officers are facing charges of shooting unarmed African-Americans in cold blood, killing two and wounding four, and then conspiring to hide evidence. Five officers who participated in the conspiracy have already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against their fellow officers.
The shootings occurred on September 4, 2005, as two families were fleeing Katrina's floodwaters, crossing New Orleans' Danziger Bridge to get to dry land. Officers, who apparently heard a radio report about shootings in the area, drove up, leapt out of their vehicle and began firing. Ronald Madison, a mentally challenged man, was shot in the back at least six times, then reportedly stomped and kicked by an officer until he was dead. His brother Lance Madison was arrested on false charges. James Brissette, a high school student, was shot seven times and died at the scene. Susan Bartholomew, 38, was wounded so badly her arm was shot off of her body. Jose Holmes Jr. was shot several times, then, as he lay bleeding, an officer stood over him and fired point blank at his stomach. Two other relatives of Bartholomew were also badly wounded.
Danziger is one of at least nine recent incidents involving the New Orleans Police Department being investigated by the US Justice Department, several of which took place in the days after the city was flooded. Officers have recently been convicted by federal prosecutors in two other high-profile trials. In April, two officers were found guilty in the beating of death of Raymond Robair, a handyman from the Treme neighborhood. In December, a jury convicted three officers and acquitted two in killing Henry Glover, a 31-year-old from New Orleans' West Bank neighborhood, and burning his body.
From Survivors to Looters
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, people around the world felt sympathy for New Orleans. They saw images of residents trapped on rooftops by floodwaters, needing rescue by boat and helicopter. But then stories began to come out about looters and gangs among the survivors and the official response shifted from humanitarian aid to military operation. Then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco sent in National Guard troops, announcing. "They have M-16s and are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will." Warren Riley - at that time the second in charge of the police department - reportedly ordered officers to "take the city back and shoot looters."
http://articles.cnn.com/2006-05-22/us/katrina.shotinback_1_mentally-disabled-man-new-orleans-police-officer-lance-madison?_s=PM:US
Excerpt:
http://articles.cnn.com/2006-05-22/us/katrina.shotinback_1_mentally-disabled-man-new-orleans-police-officer-lance-madison?_s=PM:US
Excerpt:
Katrina autopsy: Police shot mentally disabled man in back
Autopsy results obtained by CNN show a mentally disabled 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.
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 Madison, 40, was mentally disabled and lived at home with his mother. He had no criminal record. He was shot when police responded to a report of gunfire on a bridge over the flooded Industrial Canal on Sunday, September 4, six days after Katrina hit New Orleans last year.
It was a week of dire flooding, rampant looting, death by drowning. Police were strained, beset by suicides and desertion. Four people were killed in confrontations with police that weekend alone.
http://www.wbur.org/npr/137300662/trial-nears-in-post-katrina-bridge-shootings
Excerpt:
"When I looked we were all on the ground and all you could see is blood everywhere. And everybody's just hollerin' and moanin'. Everyone been shot and in pain. I look over, my right arm was on the ground lyin' next to me. It had been shot off," Susan Bartholomew told NPR in a 2006 interview.
Bullets struck five people in the Bartholomew group. James Brisette, her 17-year-old friend, died from his wounds.
Police then proceeded over the bridge and confronted a second group of civilians they say had been shooting at them.
A FedEx employee with no criminal record named Lance Madison, then 48, described in an earlier interview with NPR how he and his younger brother, Ronald, were trying to run away from the shooting when the police showed up. Ronald, 40, was mentally and physically disabled.
"We just kept runnin' up the bridge and that's when I noticed that one of the [police] who jumped out of the truck had a rifle, pointed it towards me and my little brother, and he shot my little brother in the shoulder," Madison said.
'Bad Shots'
Both Lance Madison and Susan Bartholomew are expected to testify. Michael Hunter, a former New Orleans police officer who was on the bridge that morning, is also expected to testify. In a sworn affidavit, Hunter has stated that a policeman shot the disabled Ronald Madison in the back with a shotgun as he was running away. Then, as Madison lay dying, the affidavit says, the officer began to kick him violently. Ronald Madison died from his wounds.
Ronald Madison, 40, was mentally disabled and lived at home with his mother. He had no criminal record. He was shot when police responded to a report of gunfire on a bridge over the flooded Industrial Canal on Sunday, September 4, six days after Katrina hit New Orleans last year.
It was a week of dire flooding, rampant looting, death by drowning. Police were strained, beset by suicides and desertion. Four people were killed in confrontations with police that weekend alone.
http://www.wbur.org/npr/137300662/trial-nears-in-post-katrina-bridge-shootings
Excerpt:
"When I looked we were all on the ground and all you could see is blood everywhere. And everybody's just hollerin' and moanin'. Everyone been shot and in pain. I look over, my right arm was on the ground lyin' next to me. It had been shot off," Susan Bartholomew told NPR in a 2006 interview.
Bullets struck five people in the Bartholomew group. James Brisette, her 17-year-old friend, died from his wounds.
Police then proceeded over the bridge and confronted a second group of civilians they say had been shooting at them.
A FedEx employee with no criminal record named Lance Madison, then 48, described in an earlier interview with NPR how he and his younger brother, Ronald, were trying to run away from the shooting when the police showed up. Ronald, 40, was mentally and physically disabled.
"We just kept runnin' up the bridge and that's when I noticed that one of the [police] who jumped out of the truck had a rifle, pointed it towards me and my little brother, and he shot my little brother in the shoulder," Madison said.
'Bad Shots'
Both Lance Madison and Susan Bartholomew are expected to testify. Michael Hunter, a former New Orleans police officer who was on the bridge that morning, is also expected to testify. In a sworn affidavit, Hunter has stated that a policeman shot the disabled Ronald Madison in the back with a shotgun as he was running away. Then, as Madison lay dying, the affidavit says, the officer began to kick him violently. Ronald Madison died from his wounds.
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