Posted on 04/19/2010 1:33:23 PM PDT by abb
UPDATE, 3:20 p.m.: We’ve got so much information coming in on this story now, it’s hard to keep track of it all. So rather than craft some sort of elegant narrative of this thing, we’ll stick to bullet points.
- Nobody from the New Orleans Police Department talked to Allee Bautsch at any length until Thursday of last week.
- The picture at left, of which we now have several shots, is of an individual who, if he isn’t the prime suspect in the beating of Allee Bautsch and Joe Brown, sure ought to be. Bautsch told me via e-mail this morning that the suspect she and Joe Brown “looked exactly like that, and so did the rest of them (with different color hair).” She took pains to say that she can’t make a positive identification of this man as one of her attackers, but he fits the description they gave to the New Orleans police. This is someone who needs to be questioned about the attack; there are two YouTube videos still available on which he appears.
The first one is of the protest as it marched from Lafayette Park to the Hilton.
And the second one is of the protestors as they marched to Brennan’s.
He was on the scene, he was part of the protest and the victims say he looks “exactly” like one of the assailants, right down to what he was wearing.
- Hayride contributor Walter Abbott writes on Lincoln Parish News Online that the police didn’t arrive on the scene of the Brennan’s protest until 9:30 on the night of April 9. Security for the event appears to have been dangerously thin. Video shot by the protestors and since taken down showed one NOPD officer at the scene shooing protestors away. Within an hour and a half or so, Allee Bautsch and Joe Brown were hit. Abbott’s update has another attendee at the protest describing the crowd at the Brennan’s protest as “unruly” and “were crowded up against the front door of the restaurant.” The protestors were also asking to be let in so as to use the bathroom; we understand that one female protestor was allowed to do so but not without a Brennan’s employee escort.
- Bautsch had accompanied a Brennan’s employee outside of the restaurant while the protest was going on, and at that time the Brennan’s employee had told the protestors that all three of the governors had left and there were no elected officials still in the restaurant to hear their complaints. The significance of this is the protestors got a look at Allee Bautsch in advance of her leaving the restaurant, which she and Joe Brown did through the front door. The fact that she was with the Brennan’s employee as that announcement was made to the demonstrators would have given the impression she was in a position beyond just that of an attendee at the fundraiser; since we know that Louisiana GOP chairman Roger Villere was chased into a cab by protestors an hour or so before Bautsch and Brown left the restaurant, one could well make an inference that some of those demonstrators were bent on attacking people in charge of that fundraiser.
- We’ve been trying to contact Sgt. Nick Gernon, the detective on the case, for a couple of days. Hopefully we’ll get in touch with him today and a report on that conversation will be forthcoming if it turns up any news. We’ve been told Gernon is first-rate. His normal caseload, though, usually involves crackheads and drug-related crime in the 8th District; whether that would put him in a position to have the contacts for this case is a question that remains to be answered.
- As of now, it does not appear that the Jindal administration has asked the Louisiana State Police to get involved in this investigation. This has created something of a stir, in that we’re told the state troopers want in on it big-time. The practice of downgrading cases by the NOPD to make the crime statistics look better is something many law enforcement officials statewide are extremely unhappy about and have been for a long time; that it almost assuredly happened in the case of the governor’s chief fundraiser has the LSP very uncomfortable, to put it charitably. The reader is free to form his/her opinion as to whether the state police should have already been on the case.
- We’re told that a couple of busboys from the Royal House Oyster Bar, which overlooks the scene, were overheard saying they saw the entire attack on April 9. Hopefully we’re not getting this information in advance of the NOPD; if we are, maybe we can pass that along to Sgt. Gernon.
We expect to have another update on this later today, as there are lots of balls still in the air here. But so far, it is of major concern here that unless some added priority is added to this case either by the political officials involved or the law enforcement agencies who are or could be involved, the trail will go cold. And it is unacceptable to think that a member of a sitting governor’s staff (campaign or otherwise) could be put in the hospital less than two blocks from a major fundraiser and the assailants not found; this is an outrage and a scandal which will only grow until some measure of progress is made on delivering justice for Allee Bautsch and Joe Brown.
I’ve got a feeling they were paid to do this. That guy looks like a street wino.
Will they be charged (among others) with a “hate crime”?
Oh wait, white conservatives... Nevermind.
Hopefully his entire staff is on strike.
Does anybody know any names, like of the red headed geezer? We need to start naming NAMES. Why did it take NOPD 3 days to file a report? Has Allee been controversial in the past? Is she even known to the protestors? It sure seems like she was being singled out, because beating up little women for no reason has been below even these sluglike creatures, until now.
Nope, that an EMOcrat\anarchist for sure.
I didn’t think to compile a list either, but I’ll ping as many as I can think of and ask that they do the same.
Please ping your lists and pass along.
True, they have been more focused on killing fetuses.
No, she’s not controversial. She and her boyfriend were merely leaving and the thugs spotted her Sarah Palin pin!
From the quoted article at the website: “Of course, even if Bautsch and Brown’s recollection is correct and the attackers did come from the group protesting the event, they can’t know for sure what their motives were. Their account of the non-political nature of the verbal assault matches the one Brown gave police and the homophobic, misogynistic nature of the insults would be unusual coming the kind of person one might expect to protest a Republican fundraiser”
Apparently, the author does not understand the word “misogynistic” nor has the author heard of Sandra Bernhard or any of the myriad attacks on Sarah Palin.
Thanks for the FREElert, abb!!!
Yahoo News was the article quoted....
Looks like an FBI infiltrator to me. He’ll probably be elected the Leader of the ‘Anarchists’ now. He has ‘proved’ himself to them.
I read the Police Report. The witnesses described the guy as skinny, long hair, RED hair, and he was kinda smelly.
You should read the linked post at the Hayride. It answers some of your questions.
The police department weren't aware of the seriousness of the assault until they were called about the missing purse. They went to the hospital to get a statement, and that's when they found out that she had serious injuries.
The woman reportedly went outside with a restaurant employee to address the protesters and tell them that no elected officials remained in the restaurant. It's likely that identified her as someone with some position in the organization that was holding the benefit.
(onyx, if you make a list, please put me on it. Thanks!)
Or... a ringer.
Someone brought in specifically because he likes to misbehave.
Absolutely!
Is he holding a small child’s hand in that pic?
Jindal’s press office ain’t answering the phone. 225/342-8006
Now we know where Jindal stands on finding the perps.
With what is going on in the country right now, he would have to stand on a ladder to get up to the level of Rino.......Greatly disappointed as the reality of what Jindal stands for starts to set in.
Only because 'they' want to completely ignore every fact and detail about the incident.
The motive was obvious.
ANARCHY. BEAT THE RICH!
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