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If it is upheld, that what the Gretna police did was legal, then we can all pretty much kiss
the idea of free movement around the good ole' US of A goodbye. If allowed to stand, every
legal jurisdiction will be setting up checkpoints or points of entry that could control who
would be allowed to enter their jurisdiction or when they could enter, or even how long they
could stay. This was not a good thing for the US of A. The one thing that clearly delineates
our country from all others is the ability to move freely within our own borders.
If we ever lose this ability, then the other dominos of oppression will surely fall.

The people should have been allowed to cross the bridge. The sheriff should have been in his
right to control their movements(put on buses and driven to safe areas) once on his side of the
river. For this to have happened, he would have had to pickup the phone to the Governors office
and told the governor his present situation. The governor would have then had to utilize her
authority to bring the NG in and have them move the people to those safe areas.

I have truly never seen such a breakdown in the command and control during such a natural disaster.
It might not be such a bad idea to revoke LA's statehood and make it a federal protecterate until
such time that they have proven their ability to govern themselves again. Clearly, they were not
up to the task during this disaster.

Before this is over, I am confidant that the ACLU and the justice Dept. will be all over this.
I expect that every public official who was in on this decision to block the bridge will be
brought to trial(criminal/civil).

It just cannot be legal to block the free movement of law abiding U.S. citizens. If the storm had
passed and these people were just to be voyuers of the damage in Gretna, then yes, keep them out.
These people were seeking refuge and assistance and the sheriff did a disservice to his badge and
his uniform when he turned them away.

It just cannot be legal to block the free movement of law abiding U.S. citizens.

Ah, but it is. You don't have free access to a crime scene or a train wreck. Similarly, you don't have free and unhindered access to the scene of a natural disaster.

It was an unusual set of circumstances that led to refugees from New Orleans being unable to transit Gretna. The inability to state government to provide adequate security and transportation put the Gretna authorities in a difficult position.

I've no doubt that any suit aimed at the Gretna authorities would be dismissed.

The people should have been allowed to cross the bridge. The sheriff should have been in his right to control their movements(put on buses and driven to safe areas) once on his side of the river.

Don'tcha understand this is what was happening in Gretna until the ran out of fuel, etc to transport the walkers... When that happened they blocked the bridge to keep them from overtaking their evacuated city.....

Here's a quote from post #65 above where the Chief tells of hauling 6000 back across the river, pass the Superdome to an evacuation center located at I-10 and Causeway Blvd.. Communications is going to be the major shortcoming of this entire event or the root cause of much of the problems, imo.

Lawson said that as the crowd near Gretna grew into the thousands, his officers commandeered three buses and made numerous trips, carrying about 6,000 people to a designated evacuation point where Interstate 10 crosses under Causeway Boulevard until they ran out of gas.