Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
A sad chapter on Hurricane Katrina closed yesterday with convictions by a federal jury of five New Orleans police officers stationed on the now infamous Danziger Bridge. The five were accused of killing two unarmed civilians and wounding four others and then engaging in a brazen five year coverup. However the jury did not find that the deaths of teenager James Bissette and mentally challeneged Ronald Madison constituted murder. Rather the killings were found to be a deprivation of civil rights.
The New Orleans Police Department, long plagued by claims of corruption, discrimination, and incompetence by civil rights activists, was strained to the point of breaking when Katrina caught the City and the Nation off-guard. Unable to muster a plan for dealing with public order when the storm breached the surrounding levees, the Big Easy degenerated into chaos with every man, woman and child for themselves. The federal government slow to react, compounded the incompetence of state and local officials.
In this environment, some members NOPD became little more than another gang of armed men securing their territory and engaging in government sponsored mayhem unprecedented in modern America. The events of September 4, 2005 unfoldeed this way. “After hearing a distress call over the radio from another officer who said men were shooting at police on the nearby Interstate 10 bridge, a group of cops piled into a Budget rental truck and headed to the Danziger Bridge, the portion of Chef Menteur Highway that spans the Industrial Canal.
Officer Michael Hunter, who drove the truck, fired warning shots out the window as the truck neared the bridge. He stopped the truck behind the Bartholomew family, near the bridge’s eastern terminus. Police jumped out and began shooting, eventually killing one member of the party — Brissette — and wounding four others: Jose Holmes, 19; his aunt, Susan Bartholomew, his uncle, Leonard Bartholomew III, and a teenage cousin, Lesha Bartholomew.
The victims, who had sought cover behind a concrete barrier on the side of the bridge, were riddled with gunshots. On a video shot by a news crew on the nearby Interstate 10, almost a minute of gunfire was audible, some of it the characteristic rapid fire of assault rifles.
Brissette was shot numerous times, from the heel of his foot to his head. He was killed by shotgun pellets that struck the back of his head, experts testified. Susan Bartholomew’s arm was nearly blown off by a large-caliber round, and it was later amputated; she had to raise her left hand on the trial’s first day to be sworn in as a witness. Her daughter’s legs were torn apart by bullets. Holmes was struck several times, from his face to his abdomen, and had to wear a colostomy bag for years after the shooting.
Police then chased down Ronald and Lance Madison, who had been walking toward the Gentilly side of the bridge, a ways ahead of the Bartholomew family. Hearing the gunfire, the Madisons began to run. Ronald Madison, 40, was injured. Eventually, Faulcon killed him with a shotgun blast to the back as he ran away.”
The coverup was equally eggregious with Sgt. Arthur “Archie” Kaufman, who was not involved in the shootings, but under the guise of investigating the incident coordinated a massive fraud on the public involving planting of evidence and framing the citizens on the bridge with firing at police. The jury found Kaufman guilty of every allegation in the indictment about the cover-up, including inventing phony witnesses who said police acted properly.
The only solace for teh defense was that the jury apprently felt the officers did not intend to murder the victims but it’s small solace indeed as the men face mandatory sentences of from 35 to 60 years in federal prison.
One of the prosecutors summed up the case this way. “They thought because of Katrina no one was watching,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Carter. “They thought they could do what they wanted to do and there wouldn’t be any consequences.”
Source: NOLA.com
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Whether convicted of murder or not these guys should do significant time. This was a vicious act by those supposedly dedicating to uphold the law. The way these things go, However, I can envision their pardon by some future Neanderthal governing LA. The full scope of the Katrina tragedy is yet to be seen, but what we already know is disgusting.
Well. That verdict just set the bar on what society considers “murder” a bit higher, and what kind of behavior under color of law will be allowed some good level lower. Srsly, does a cop have to pull a gun in court and start shooting jurors at point blank range before before the scales of self denial fall from their eyes? That jury sucks.
I always said that if I was more or less innocent of a crime that had a lot of technical evidence I’d want a smart judge and no jury but if I was guilty of something like murder I’d opt for a jury in a heartbeat. This is a terrible verdict.
I mentioned to anon nurse within another thread (the beating death of the homeless man, Thomas) that juries seem reluctant to convict LEOs of murder based upon the deference given them while performing within their ‘line of duty’. This is but one more, sad example.
It was a sad day when I heard of the murders. I hope this little bit of justice will help the family get some closure.
I remember that incident well. I agree with OS regarding Kaufman for the same reasons he enumerated.
We had taken the grandkids to New Orleans the summer before Katrina and had spent a week exploring the city and its surroundings. They watched the Katrina story unfold and were deeply horrified. The children were not nearly as taken with the French Quarter as they were with the 9th Ward, its houses and shops, and the cemeteries. Recognizing that all that, along with so many of the people who had greeted and spoken with them, were now gone forever brought forth an anger and sadness they found difficulty expressing.
It was Katrina that finally woke me up to the fact that the country I thought I lived in didn’t really exist.
In hind sight, after seeing the heartlessness of the Bush Administration’s response to Katrina, can we really claim to be shocked at the torture program instituted in our name by our leaders? I don’t think the history books will give us a pass.
Looking at the same evidence then coming to a different conclusion than another jury or another expert is not that uncommon.
Even scientists when looking a evidence given by the Dawn spacecraft is interpreted in entirely different ways.
Evidently we are not at our apex in the discipline of data analysis.
The law men degenerated faster than anticipated. Not to place the following as being just as important, the law men went on a rampage using dogs as target practice. Whooping and hollering as they went shooting from the backs of trucks. They did it under the guise of compassion as the dogs would have starved anyway.( no dogs starved) Problem is they shot to incapacitate and not kill. They could have claimed compassion a little bit more legitimately if they humanely shot the dogs in the head after incapacitating. As expected, no charges. Authorities either want us to disrespect the law or are cosmically indifferent to morality.
The wheels of justice….
The conviction I find most personally satisfying is that of Archie Kaufman. It is one thing to act in the heat of the moment, but quite another to coldly and deliberately engineer a cover up to the extent of manufacturing “evidence,” and trying to “convict” the victims of wrongdoing.
NO?
“One of the prosecutors summed up the case this way. “They thought because of Katrina no one was watching,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Carter. “They thought they could do what they wanted to do and there wouldn’t be any consequences.”
And also who would care about theses folks anyway?
Well they found that someone did and someone believed that something was wrong.
I’m sure they will appeal and appeal often,
They are truly symbolic of what is wrong with policing since 911.
Some things are not always what they seem…The convictions will still get them time but the municipality that they worked for is now liable…