Prometheus 6

Policemen Indicted in Post-Katrina Shootings
7 New Orleans Officers Charged in Incident in Which 2 Died and 4 Were Wounded
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
Friday, December 29, 2006; A09

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 28 -- Seven police officers were indicted Thursday on charges of murder or attempted murder in a shooting incident on a bridge that left two people dead during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The district attorney portrayed the officers as trigger-happy.

"We cannot allow our police officers to shoot and kill our citizens without justification like rabid dogs," District Attorney Eddie Jordan said.

The shootings took place under murky circumstances six days after the storm and became widely cited examples of the anarchy that descended after Katrina.

Two men were killed and four people were wounded on the Danziger Bridge, which spans the Industrial Canal.

Police initially said the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings occurred after shots were fired at Army Corps of Engineers workers.

At the time, the sweltering city was still littered with corpses, as rescuers tried to evacuate stranded residents and looters ransacked stores.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley called Jordan's comments "highly unprofessional, highly prejudicial and highly undignified" and urged the community to withhold judgment until a jury decides their guilt or innocence.

"We want justice first and foremost," Riley said, "but for the district attorney to try and prejudice the community against these officers before all the evidence is heard is really, I think, a sad day for the city."