A New Orleans police officer admitted in court toburning the body of a man who was shot and killed by another officer in the days following Hurricane Katrina's rampage on the city.
Butofficer Gregory McRae said he wasn't trying to cover up the shooting death of Henry Glover in September of 2005. McRae said he saw too many bodies floating in the waters around New Orleans and didn't want to see Glover added to that number.
So it was just a coincidence that fellow New Orleans officer David Warren is accused of shooting an unarmed Glover outside a strip mall in his car?
And is it another coincidence that McRae and another officer arechargedwith beating several people who drove Glover to a makeshift police headquarters seeking help for the mortally wounded man?
McRae is one of five officers on trial in federal court. And although I don't have access to all of the testimony and evidence in the trial, McRae's claims that he didn't want to see Glover's body floating in water sounds very shaky to me.
It sounds far more likely that the officers knew one of their own did wrong in shooting Glover. But they also knew they were under stress and believed that the flood chaos created a desperate new set of rules in the streets of New Orleans -- kill or be killed.
McRae told his attorney he wouldn't burn Glover's body again if he had to do it all over again.
When asked by the presiding judge to explain why he burned Glover's body in his car, McRae said "I had reached a point, your honor, where I was tired of smelling putrid human rotten flesh."
If that is true, then why did another officer, Lt. James Meish, testify that he saw McRaelaughingafter he burned the car?
During the prosecutor's cross-examination, McRae acknowledged that he knew that burning Glover's body would hamper any homicide investigation.
I have no doubt that police were under unimaginable stress in theearly days of Hurricane Katrina. Remember the early reports from New Orleans that armed gangs were roaming the streets killing and looting?
But these officers appear to have organized a massive cover-up to hide the murder of an innocent man. And if found guilty, they should pay dearly.
16-Nov-10 - Forty-five years after he was killed by an Alabama State Trooper, Jimmie Lee Jackson, whose death lead to the first civil rights march on Selma, he is finally getting a small measure of justice.
12-Nov-10 - In a case better suited for Judge Mathis, Paula Cook is proceeding with her civil suit against Fantasia Barrino for an antiquated legal cause of action called "Alienation of Affection" in a North Carolina court.
Sure, it makes a lot of sense that you would be starting a fire in New Orleans after the levee failures when there's zero water pressure and the city is already highly vulnerable to fires.
As a former Probation Officer I can attest that in far too many law enforcement agencies there's a code of "loyalty". If you narc out another officer you will probably pay for it. It may be a simple slashing of your car tires, or worse, someone not backing you up in a dangerous situation. Until this culture of protecting the guilty, just as it was in the Catholic Church is dismantled we will continue to see these situations arise. Also I wish the media would still concentrate more on correcting the mistakes it made in its reporting after Katrina. While we believed the rumors inside, the murders and rapes in the Superdome were not supported by evidence. We all were controlled by fear and rumor.
Paul Harris Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"
there's a special place for ppl like them.. law enforcement folks who swear to honor and protect, but break the 1st law they can thinking they are above the law..
To all the police officers who are so "shocked" and "appalled" by the sentiments being written here: you have no one to blame but yourselves.
Here in America, from childhood, we are taught that police officers are heroes and amazing people who deserve our gratitude. While this is true in some cases, on the actual road and in our actual interactions with police officers on the road, starting from the time we are teenagers (when we start driving) through adulthood, we are shown something entirely different from a "hero".
We are constantly shown people who blatantly lie, abuse people, injure people for hardly any reason and act with unnecessary force. Beyond these grave situations, many police officers instigate extraordinary rudeness when they open their mouth to talk to a citizen they pulled over. This is not customer service, I am not asking that police officers act all "nice and pretty and pink", I am merely asking they be impartial and do not instigate a situation by being rude.
As I have mentioned, police officers have no one but themselves to blame for the negative opinion of them in this country, especially when they have a system of cronyism. If some police officer is doing something wrong, his co-workers do nothing. It is despicable.
You are NOT the ultimate law. You are servants to the public, and as such, you should be truthful, honest and fair. You must not lie, you must not engage in deceit and you must not entrap people, as many examples of such activity have been posted on these comments.
All we ask of you, our Public Servants, is to SERVE us, not to steal from us under the guise of legality. When someone is doing something genuinely wrong, go ahead and pull us over/arrest us/do whatever is necessary. But when someone is not doing anything wrong, LEAVE US ALONE. Do not lie. Do not fudge. Do not make situations up.
If you do your job well, honestly, fairly and acknowledge and fix ineptitude and incompetence within the ranks.... we the People will NOT have a problem with you. If you continue to ignore ineptitude and incompetence, and continue on the path of abuse, disrespect and instigation, the people will deal with you and thats a war you can't win.
It really is as simple as that. The choice is yours for now.
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Comments: (5)
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By: Paul Harris on 12/01/2010 5:13AM
Sure, it makes a lot of sense that you would be starting a fire in New Orleans after the levee failures when there's zero water pressure and the city is already highly vulnerable to fires.
As a former Probation Officer I can attest that in far too many law enforcement agencies there's a code of "loyalty". If you narc out another officer you will probably pay for it. It may be a simple slashing of your car tires, or worse, someone not backing you up in a dangerous situation. Until this culture of protecting the guilty, just as it was in the Catholic Church is dismantled we will continue to see these situations arise.
Also I wish the media would still concentrate more on correcting the mistakes it made in its reporting after Katrina. While we believed the rumors inside, the murders and rapes in the Superdome were not supported by evidence. We all were controlled by fear and rumor.
Paul Harris
Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"
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By: dwayne belton on 12/04/2010 12:03AM
send title of your book to my email. waynelaboy@yahoo.com
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By: dhonesty1 on 12/01/2010 11:28AM
there's a special place for ppl like them.. law enforcement folks who swear to honor and protect, but break the 1st law they can thinking they are above the law..
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By: james on 12/04/2010 10:57AM
To all the police officers who are so "shocked" and "appalled" by the sentiments being written here: you have no one to blame but yourselves.
Here in America, from childhood, we are taught that police officers are heroes and amazing people who deserve our gratitude. While this is true in some cases, on the actual road and in our actual interactions with police officers on the road, starting from the time we are teenagers (when we start driving) through adulthood, we are shown something entirely different from a "hero".
We are constantly shown people who blatantly lie, abuse people, injure people for hardly any reason and act with unnecessary force. Beyond these grave situations, many police officers instigate extraordinary rudeness when they open their mouth to talk to a citizen they pulled over. This is not customer service, I am not asking that police officers act all "nice and pretty and pink", I am merely asking they be impartial and do not instigate a situation by being rude.
As I have mentioned, police officers have no one but themselves to blame for the negative opinion of them in this country, especially when they have a system of cronyism. If some police officer is doing something wrong, his co-workers do nothing. It is despicable.
You are NOT the ultimate law. You are servants to the public, and as such, you should be truthful, honest and fair. You must not lie, you must not engage in deceit and you must not entrap people, as many examples of such activity have been posted on these comments.
All we ask of you, our Public Servants, is to SERVE us, not to steal from us under the guise of legality. When someone is doing something genuinely wrong, go ahead and pull us over/arrest us/do whatever is necessary. But when someone is not doing anything wrong, LEAVE US ALONE. Do not lie. Do not fudge. Do not make situations up.
If you do your job well, honestly, fairly and acknowledge and fix ineptitude and incompetence within the ranks.... we the People will NOT have a problem with you. If you continue to ignore ineptitude and incompetence, and continue on the path of abuse, disrespect and instigation, the people will deal with you and thats a war you can't win.
It really is as simple as that. The choice is yours for now.
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By: dwayne belton on 12/04/2010 12:04AM
we'll still 4give and love them. devils!
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