Cops charged in La. shooting can work

[Juna]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_re_us/katrina_bridge_shootings

NEW ORLEANS - All seven policemen charged in the deadly bridge shootings after Hurricane Katrina will be allowed to post bail, and the six still on the New Orleans Police force can return to limited duty, a judge said Friday.

The seven men pleaded not guilty in court Friday to murder or attempted murder charges.

Four of the officers face counts of first-degree murder that carry a possible death sentence. A grand jury indicted the seven last week in connection with the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings on the city's Danziger Bridge that killed two men and wounded four other people.

Bail on a first-degree murder charge is rare in Louisiana and activists who had gathered outside the courthouse prior to the hearing protested allowing it.

As one of the officers left the courthouse, surrounded by attorneys and police officers, a small group of activists shouted "murderer."

At least some of the indicted men will be required to wear monitoring devices if they post bail and will be confined to home, work, attorney visits and court appearances, Judge Raymond Bigelow said Friday. One of the seven now works as a truck driver in Texas.

New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman Bambi Hall said Superintendent Warren Riley would have no comment on when or where the officers would return to work.

Exactly what happened that day on the Danziger Bridge remains unclear. The hurricane had hit the city a few days earlier, flooding 80 percent of it, and there were widespread reports of lawlessness, looting and violence.

Police say that the indicted officers were responding to a report of other officers being attacked at the bridge and that one of the victims, 40-year-old Ronald Madison, was reaching for a gun.

Madison's brother, Lance, has said that his mental retarded brother wasn't armed and that the two were running from a group of teens who had opened fire when seven men jumped out of a rental truck and also shot at them without warning.

Anyone know more details about the event? I hadn't heard of this.

 

[Manedwolf]

Well, you're mentioning something that's in some way negative about COPS, so based on recent trends, this thread will be locked before anyone can offer any insights.

 

[molonlabe]

Hey, It NO what do you expect?

 

[thexrayboy]

I wonder how many witnesses will mysteriously develop memory problems in the interim. The NO PD could give lessons in corruption to some of the police forces in Mexico. I doubt they are going to just let these six be sacrificed
in the name of justice, though I hope I'm wrong. Sure as heck hope the Feds keep a really really strong presence in NO to keep these guys from working on the locals to get the testimony friendlied up.

 

[Deanimator]

I wonder how many witnesses will mysteriously develop memory problems in the interim.

...or commit "suicide", or be shot "trying to escape", etc., etc., etc.

Don't forget, the hiring of contract killers by members of the NOPD is a DOCUMENTED fact.

 

[Autolycus]

My thoughts are I dont think they should be allowed to work as tehy may have allegedly murdered someone while doing their duties. Most places in my experience have a policy that if you allegedly commit a crime you are not allowed to work and are suspended without pay while the investigation goes on. But apparently NOPD does not?

 

[saltydog452]

NOLA needs all the cops they have. Put them on desk duty.

13 homicides in one week, no one has been charged other than police officers.

salty.

 

[Sindawe]

Repeat after me: Innocent until proven guilty. Applies for cops as much as it does for non-cops.

Put 'em on desk duty or other admin tasks that always need doing.

 

[JWarren]

I am a newly registered, but long time reader and I've been following this story with no small level of interest.

While I don't want to make any comments that could cause the thread to be closed, or start any arguements, I did want to point out that there is a lot to this story that a majority of the country is NOT getting. Let them sort it out.

I see a lot of posts on various boards I frequent commenting on Katrina and its aftermath. About half claim that everything that was shown was smoke and mirror sensationalism and it was nothing like that. The other half are convinced that the world actually DID come to an end with Katrina. The reality lies somewhere in the vast gray in-between.

On many forums, the most vocal discussions of this event are from folks that live hundreds of miles from the affected areas and largely base their opinions on the news. I have a rather different perspective. I have no idea what was reported during that period on the news. I only know what I saw.

While I did not live in New Orleans at the time (I had the good sense to leave that cesspool a number of years ago), I live nearby-- and a good portion of my relatives live even closer. I was forced to weather the storm and its aftermath just outside NO due to my father-in-law's health.

We did 8 weeks without power, communications or a good supply of water. It took us 2 days to cut out the one mile from his home to the highway-- totaling cutting over 300 trees and pulling them off the road I made frequent trips over an hour to Baton Rouge in order to obtain fuel for vehicles and generators. Probably because of contact with less-than-pure water early on, I kept a terrible sore throat the entire time. Perhaps because of the media attention on NO, the outlying areas did not see a single official vehicle for over 7 days. I could not even find out if my house had survived for over a week. (it did-- with two oak trees on top of it.)

The point of this? The aftermath of Katrina was an environment of chaos for everyone involved. In many areas, there was a riotous attitude, and the actions followed. Even in our "quiet" area, we had neighbors who suffered home invasions, major theft, and had to fire upon intruders more than once.

One neighbor had his generator stolen while he and his family slept. The thief cranked his lawnmower and killed the generator and made off with it. A friend who is a store owner had to shoot an armed intruder within 24 hours of landfall. The local bank had it front window busted out and its night-deposit box ripped off with a vehicle and a chain.

While I do not approve of some of the actions of the LEO's during this time, I also do not approve of the actions of a lot of citizens. Most were doing the best they can in a decent and rational way, but there were others who could care less. And this from both the citizens and LEO community.

A particularly interesting day for me was when I decided that we needed to reduce the number of trips I had to take to replenish fuel. I decided to go to a farm supply and purchase a 250 gallon fuel container. On my way back from Baton Rouge with 800 dollars worth of fuel for my family and relatives, I heard on 870 AM (our only source of information) that Jefferson Parish (the one I was traveling through at the time) had authorized LEOs to sieze fuel from citizens for use in their official vehicles! I am still upset by this, but I haven't heard of anyone who was actually robbed in this manner. I suspect that the LEO's had the common sense to know what would have happened if they tried such a stunt.

The point I am making is that it is very easy to arm-chair quarterback this period-- especially from outside the areas affected. I have a very hard time believing that the LEO's fired on these people without cause primarily because that wasn't the mindset of most intelligent people. People didn't have the luxury of doing anything other that what was needed at that exact moment for most of the time. I hope the material facts of this case do reach the light of day, and the correct decisions will be made by people who are unbiased toward any side or issue concerning this. I fear there are none without preconcieved notions in one way or the other, however.


All the best!

John

 

[saltydog452]

Well said Mr. Warren.

Thank you.

salty.

 

[thexrayboy]

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I'm not sure which, there is a lot of facts behind most of the stories discussed here that we don't know. Nature of the beast. News media incompetence and bias does make it particularly hard to know for sure what actually happened during these real world stories.
And just as bad, legal wrangling and back room deal making also tends to make relevant facts disappear so that often the real truth is never known.

However since in essence this chatroom is mostly just a electronic version of
the "wives talking at the beauty parlor" no real harm is done for the most part. Anyone who would actually take for gospel the information and opinions aired here without independent research and verification would probably have significant problems in many areas of life.

Verbal jousting and chit chat can be fun if not taken personally or seriously.
That is for the most part the function of forums. No world shaking pontification, just informal exchange of info, opinion and experience.

 

[JWarren]

Thanks much, Salty


And very well said, Xray.