Judge in Danziger case sickened by 'raw brutality of the shooting and the craven lawlessness...

[babylonsister]

Judge in Danziger case sickened by 'raw brutality of the shooting and the craven lawlessness of the cover-up'
By Times-Picayune Staff
April 07, 2010, 9:27PM

This story was written by Laura Maggi and Brendan McCarthy


A New Orleans police officer who fired his gun at civilians on the Danziger Bridge a week after Hurricane Katrina pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, offering a chilling account of what transpired on the bridge that early September day in 2005.

In January 2007, Michael Hunter, one of the seven NOPD officers indicted in the Danziger Bridge shootings, enters Central Lockup. The seven officers were charged on an array of murder and attempted-murder charges.

Michael Hunter, 33, became the first officer who actually participated in the shooting to enter a guilty plea. Two investigators have already confessed to playing roles in a wide-ranging cover-up of the police shooting, which injured four unarmed civilians and left two men dead.

Hunter, who resigned last week after he was charged in federal court, contends that fellow officers shot at people they should have seen were unarmed. The account of events Hunter signed Thursday afternoon, called a factual basis, provides the most specific details to date about officers' actions on the bridge, which spans the Industrial Canal at Chef Menteur Highway.

Hunter, 33, said a New Orleans police sergeant fired an assault rifle at wounded civilians at close range after other officers stopped shooting and after it was clear that the police were not taking fire. He also says he saw another officer in a car fire a shotgun at a fleeing man's back, although the man did nothing suggesting he was a threat to police. That man, 40-year-old Ronald Madison, who was severely mentally disabled, died of his wounds.

As part of his plea, Hunter also acknowledged taking part in a conspiracy with colleagues to conceal the circumstances of what he considered an unjustified shooting. At one point, in a meeting with other officers, a supervisor said "something to the effect of, we don't want this to look like a massacre," the court document says.

"I don't think you can listen to that account without being sickened by the raw brutality of the shooting and the craven lawlessness of the cover-up," said U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance after the factual basis was read aloud in the still courtroom by prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein, deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

more...

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/04/judge_sickened_by_raw_brutalit.html

[Echo In Light]

1. k/r

[notadmblnd]

2. I'll never forget that week and listining to the NOLA police scanners

I'm convinced that if it hadn't been for the NO fire chief refusing to leave, they would have let the Superdome burn down- resulting in the death of 10s of thousands of people.

[Swamp Rat]

3. ditto

[notadmblnd]

6. When I heard the NG say they were going to pull th plug on the operation or

something similar to that, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and chills ran down my spine.

I wonder if those threads are still in the archives?

[bananas]

10. Apparently at least one of those threads was deleted

There might be other threads that are still there:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2097658#2098759

RazzleDazzle Fri Feb-10-06 10:35 AM
Response to Original message

43. Imagine that. And I distinctly remember a thread here at DU
that was not just locked but deleted. That thread alleged this very thing -- that the lack of reponse was intentional. Seems to me the excuse for deleting it was that there was some speculation (only a couple of posts) that the weather had been manipulated too.

This hurts my heart, even tho it's NOT news or unexpected. Seeing it in black and white is shocking. There are still so many missing, still bodies being found, no actual count of either the official hurricane deaths or those that died afterwards from lack of attention, still so many homeless, still such destruction and debris not being properly cleaned up, still no accountability by this administration.


notadmblnd Fri Feb-10-06 10:58 PM
Response to Reply #43

55. it was one of the scanner threads right?
Edited on Fri Feb-10-06 10:58 PM by notadmblnd

On the Wednesday night/Thursday morning after the storm. There was a fire in the Superdome and the guard was trying to dissuade the NOFD to forget about responding even though the fire was beginning to get out of control. I was convinced if it wasn't for the refusal of the NO Fire chief to leave, 35,000 people would have been victims of genocide by the US government that night.

Absolutely No doubt in my mind. I hate that they disappeared that thread too. so much of what happened that week is documented in them. It's evidence now, not speculation.

[notadmblnd]

11. You know, over the years it has occured to me once or twice

that some of our moderators arbitrarily delete some very important posts/threads. It has made me wonder a time or two just what their agenda's were.

[bananas]

14. I found two threads where the fire is talked about

Here are two posts in two seperate threads:

1. one of last reports from last thread- fire in superdome & NG told firemen
to stay away because they can't secure the area.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4545924&mesg_id=4545934

53. "tell the firemen to leave" "Say again?" "tell the firemen to leave"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4545086&mesg_id=4545840

[notadmblnd]

16. Thanks for your diligence. I knew I wasn't the only one that heard it that night.

[bananas]

17. Google search link

Warning: may bring back bad memories.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%22Sep-01-05%22+notadmblnd+scanner+site%3Ademocraticunderground.com&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[Luminous Animal]

12. And yet, on DU, Cynthia McKinney is considered batshit crazy.

[bananas]

4. k&r nt

[gratuitous]

5. Well, if these people didn't want to be shot

They shouldn't have been in the way of a hurricane. So it's their own fault.

Hmmm.

Nope, blaming the victim still sounds dumb regardless of the context.

[Downtown Hound]

7. Remember, the police are there to protect us...

Assuming they don't kill us first.

[Festivito]

8. The lawlessness of the authorities, versus innocence of simple people.

.. Simple people the authorities feared.

They had nothing to fear...

except the fear, itself.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. kick

[old mark]

13. K&R

[Richard Steele]

15. K&R