More cops charged in post-Katrina bridge shootings - 2010-07-14 4:51 AM
http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_15508159?nclick_check=1
Quote:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In a case that rocked a city already torn by the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, four police officers accused of gunning down two unarmed people in the storm's chaotic aftermath could face death themselves.
The officers who could face the death penalty were charged along with two others in a 27-count indictment unsealed Tuesday. Five former New Orleans police officers already have pleaded guilty to helping cover up the shootings on the Danziger Bridge that left two men dead and four wounded just days after the August 2005 hurricane. In one instance, a mentally disabled man was shot in the back and stomped before he died.
Prosecutors say officers fabricated witness statements, falsified reports and planted a gun in an attempt to make it appear the shootings were justified. It was a shocking example of the violence and confusion that followed the storm.
With 80 percent of New Orleans underwater, officers from a department with a history of corruption were forced to battle rampant crime, and some became criminals themselves. Dozens of officers were fired or suspended for abandoning their post. In an separate case, an officer is charged with shooting a man whose body turned up in a burned out car.
The latest indictments also have come shortly after the city's new mayor replaced its former police chief and invited a Justice Department team to overhaul the city's corruption-plagued police department, which alreadyis the target of several federal investigations separate from the bridge shooting.
In the bridge shooting case, seven officers were charged with murder or attempted murder in December 2006 but a state judge threw out all the charges in August 2008. Federal authorities then stepped in a month later to launch their own investigation.
The officers who could face the death penalty were charged along with two others in a 27-count indictment unsealed Tuesday. Five former New Orleans police officers already have pleaded guilty to helping cover up the shootings on the Danziger Bridge that left two men dead and four wounded just days after the August 2005 hurricane. In one instance, a mentally disabled man was shot in the back and stomped before he died.
Prosecutors say officers fabricated witness statements, falsified reports and planted a gun in an attempt to make it appear the shootings were justified. It was a shocking example of the violence and confusion that followed the storm.
With 80 percent of New Orleans underwater, officers from a department with a history of corruption were forced to battle rampant crime, and some became criminals themselves. Dozens of officers were fired or suspended for abandoning their post. In an separate case, an officer is charged with shooting a man whose body turned up in a burned out car.
The latest indictments also have come shortly after the city's new mayor replaced its former police chief and invited a Justice Department team to overhaul the city's corruption-plagued police department, which alreadyis the target of several federal investigations separate from the bridge shooting.
In the bridge shooting case, seven officers were charged with murder or attempted murder in December 2006 but a state judge threw out all the charges in August 2008. Federal authorities then stepped in a month later to launch their own investigation.