Posted on 12/28/2006 2:57:01 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NEW ORLEANS - 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 district attorney portrayed the officers as trigger happy.
"We cannot allow our police officers to shoot and kill our citizens without justification like rabid dogs," District Attorney Eddie Jordan said.
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.
Sgt. Kenneth Bowen and officers Robert Faulcon, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Gisevius were charged with murder. Officers Robert Barrios, Mike Hunter and Ignatius Hills were charged with attempted murder.
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Associated Press Writer Stacey Plaisance contributed to this report.
"four began firing at police,"
that changes everything. This prosecution is wrong and illegal.
Typical of liberal administrations which want to shift the blame onto the innocent.
My friend Chris ran security for several MSM folks in New Orleans after Katrina and told me of several incidents where police tried to steal their supplies & etc. and it was only because Chris and his team outgunned the police by quite a bit that they were not victimized as well. The reason the MSM hired my friend was because several reporters did have their vehicles and equipment illegally seized by police.
Oh, and let's not forget Nagin's illegal gun seizures and his subsequent refusals to return the stolen property despite several court orders to do so.
And then there's the people who were shot while trying to cross the bridges to get out of NO and the people who were shot by police trying to leave the stadium.
You believe what you want if that makes you feel better.
5 shots in the back goes a little beyond self defense I would think.
That depends on how tight the grouping was.
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