Thaindian News

July 14, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): Six police personnel of New Orleans have been at the receiving end of indictments with regard to the deadly shooting of inhabitants on a bridge in the days subsequent to the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It has been mentioned that four policemen commenced to fire on defenseless individuals on the city’s Danziger Bridge. Two civilians passed away as a result and four were wounded.

Two superintendents have been accused of collaborating with the abovementioned four police officers in order to endeavor a cover-up in the following investigations. The six accused have hitherto not issued a rejoinder to the indictments.

These indictments were launched by the American Justice Department. The indictment divulges that the four police officers in question happen to be Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso. These four initiated fire on a family unit on the east side of the Danziger Bridge on 4 September 2005. This caused the demise of a teenage male and three others were injured.

Subsequent to the passage of a few minutes, the four policemen were caught up in a second gunfire on the west side of the bridge. This exterminated the existence of 40-year-old Ronald Madison, who was a person plagued by learning troubles. This information has been disclosed by the indictment.

If these indictments ultimately cause convictions, then the four could encounter the uppermost punishment of incarceration for life or the capital punishment.

The aforementioned four police officers also face the indictment of plotting to launch charges against two of the wounded victims in Danziger Bridge. The four accused had asserted that these two had released gunfire in the direction of the police personnel. Sgts Arthur Kaufman and Gerard Dugue have been indicted, alongside the abovementioned four officers, with endeavoring to hide what happened.

American Attorney General, Eric Holder, has declared that the Justice Department will energetically chase any person, who supposedly infringed the law. The Department will not bear with transgressions from those, who have sworn to defend the populace.

This tragedy emerged in the disordered repercussion of the calamitous Hurricane Katrina. That was when the local authorities were endeavoring to re-establish safety in New Orleans subsequent to the disintegration of law and order there.

The aforesaid case is one of a number of investigations of suspected misdemeanors by the New Orleans policemen that the Justice Department launched subsequent to the destructive storm. In June, five present and past officers were the subjects of an indictment in the fatality of 31-year-old Henry Glover. Glover’s corpse, destroyed by fire, came into view subsequent to Katrina.

A considerable segment of New Orleans had been submerged in 2005 after Katrina. The police department of New Orleans already had a dishonest history. Its officers then had to encounter unbridled crime in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Some police officers became felons themselves. Scores of police personnel were dismissed for deserting their posts.