After Katrina, New Orleans Cops Were Told They Could Shoot Looters

[G_j]

http://www.propublica.org/nola/story/nopd-order-to-shoot-looters-hurricane-katrina

After Katrina, New Orleans Cops Were Told They Could Shoot Looters

By Sabrina Shankman and Tom Jennings of Frontline, Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi of The New Orleans Times-Picayune and A.C. Thompson of ProPublicaAugust 24, 2010 7:00 pm EDT


This story was co-published with The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

In the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina, an order circulated among New Orleans police authorizing officers to shoot looters, according to present and former members of the department.

It's not clear how broadly the order was communicated. Some officers who heard it say they refused to carry it out. Others say they understood it as a fundamental change in the standards on deadly force, which allow police to fire only to protect themselves or others from what appears to be an imminent physical threat.

The accounts of orders to "shoot looters," "take back the city," or "do what you have to do" are fragmentary. It remains unclear who originated them or whether they were heard by any of the officers involved in shooting 11 civilians in the days after Katrina. Thus far, no officers implicated in shootings have used the order as an explanation for their actions. Only one of the people shot by police – Henry Glover – was allegedly stealing goods at the time he was shot.

..more..

[HillbillyBob]

1. The order to kill anyone looking for food likely came from

all the way at the top..the bush-cheney-rummy etc cabal. I have no idea of who actually made the calls, as far as I can see tho anyone who was in the administration not in a paper pushing part i mean should be taken to trial..but first we have to waterboard them..they said its not torture..see how well dimples and darth stand the water.

[G_j]

3. something that absolutely needs to be known

though it's doubtful that it ever will.

[jdlh8894]

2. Is this order still in effect now? n/t

[JoeyT]

4. Huh. So it turns out the orders came from higher up.

Time to fervently look forward before we hold too big a fish accountable by accident.

[upi402]

5. Yeah, don't help people... shoot 'em

Dems need to remind the masses who watch tv news and think they're informed. Remind them of just how evil and phony Republicans are.