"Her offense? Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck...Family and eyewitnesses insisted Maten was an innocent woman who had gone to her car to get some sausage to eat only to be mistakenly arrested by tired, frustrated white officers who couldn't catch younger looters at a nearby store."
Maten must still face the looting charge at a court hearing in October. But the family, armed with several witnesses, intends to prove she was wrongly arrested outside the hotel in this New Orlean's suburb where she had fled Katrina's floodwaters.
"There were people looting, but she wasn't one of them. Instead of chasing after people who were running, they (police) grabbed the old lady who was walking," said Short, who works in traffic enforcement for neighboring New Orleans police.
Christine Bishop, the owner of the Check In Check Out deli, said that she was angry that looters had damaged her store, but that she would not want anyone charged with a crime if the person had simply tried to get food to survive. "Especially not a 70-year-old woman," Bishop said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050915/ap_on_re_us/katrina_costly_sausage;_ylt=AtihWTvPRdxCfv78IvUXgJgDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
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