Posted on 07/13/2010 2:25:50 PM PDT by tcrlaf
WASHINGTON –Six officers with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) were charged today in connection with the federal investigation of a police-involved shooting on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department announced today. The incident resulted in the death of two civilians and the wounding of four others.
The indictment charges four officers – Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso – in connection with the shootings, and charges those four officers and two supervisors – Arthur “Archie” Kaufman and Gerard Dugue – with helping to obstruct justice during the subsequent investigations.
The indictment alleges that officers Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso open fired on an unarmed family on the east side of the bridge, killing 17-year- old James Brissette, and wounding Susan Bartholomew, 38; Leonard Bartholomew III, 44; the Bartholomew’s daughter, Lesha, 17; and the Bartholomew’s nephew, Jose Holmes, 19. The Bartholomews’ 14-year-old son ran away from the shooting and was fired at, but was not injured.
The second shooting occurred minutes later on the west side of the bridge, where officers shot at brothers Lance and Ronald Madison, killing Ronald, a 40-year-old man with severe mental disabilities. The indictment alleges Faulcon shot Ronald Madison in the back as Ronald ran away. Bowen is charged with stomping and kicking Ronald Madison while Ronald was wounded, but not yet dead. Ronald later died at the scene.
SNIP-----------
The four officers charged with killing civilians face maximum penalties of life in prison or the death penalty. The officers face additional penalties for the remaining counts, which include charges related to a conspiracy to cover up what had happened on the bridge, and conspiracies to file charges against two of the victims, Lance Madison and Jose Holmes, on the basis of false evidence.
According to the indictment, officers at the scene of the shooting arrested Lance Madison and charged him with eight counts of attempting to kill police officers. Officers collected no guns or shell casings on the day of the shooting, and 30 casings they collected more than a month later were allegedly fired by officers rather than civilians. Madison was held in jail for three weeks, but was eventually released without indictment.
The indictment accuses Kaufman and Dugue of joining the other four defendants in a conspiracy to cover up what had happened on the bridge and to make the shootings appear justified. Kaufman is charged with obtaining a gun from his home and claiming to have found the gun at the bridge on the day after the shooting, and with making up witnesses and then creating statements from the fictional witnesses to help justify the shooting. Kaufman and Dugue are also accused of holding a meeting, in an abandoned and gutted out NOPD building, at which homicide sergeants instructed officers involved in the shooting to get their stories straight before giving formal audiotaped statements about the shooting.
Kaufman and Dugue, who concluded in a formal report that the shooting was justified and that Lance Madison and Jose Holmes should be arrested, are also accused of conspiring with each other and with other officers to have Madison and Holmes prosecuted on the basis of false evidence.
Kaufman faces a maximum penalty of 120 years in prison, and Dugue faces a maximum penalty of 70 years in prison.
Today’s indictment follows guilty pleas from five former NOPD officers who admitted that they participated in a conspiracy to obstruct justice and cover up what happened on Sept. 4, 2005. The officers include former Lieutenant Michael Lohman, former detective Jeffrey Lehrmann, and former Officers Michael Hunter, Robert Barrios, and Ignatius Hills.
The crime was that a dozen random cops conspired to COVERUP the murder of innocent citizens by police officers!
I think the part that you are forgetting is that these are SWORN LEO’s. That’s what gave them the power to cover up their crimes. They committed perjury when they filed their formal reports. They deserve the harshest penalties in the book.
I used to look up to sworn officers. Not any more. Those days are gone because of the lower standards that cities are using to hire LEO’s.
They shot unarmed, fleeing civilians in the back. Then they conspired to cover up their crimes. Hang them.
Well their victims won't get time off from the cemetary for good behavior, so I'm inclined to agree with the poster who is advocating the death penalty.
Sick.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.