By Paul Shepard on Dec 2nd 2010 1:18PM
Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Five years ago, members of the New Orleans Police Department shot and killed two men and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge (pictured) in an unprovoked attack that gained some media attention but, for some reason, didn't shock the nation as it should have.
Yes, the officers were under stress from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, deaths, reports of armed gangs firing on police and unarmed citizens, but what the officers did was unthinkable: They shot and killed unarmed people for no apparent reason.
But now, just a little justice is finally coming to the Danzinger Bridge victims.
Former New Orleans police officer Michael Hunter was sentenced to eight years, the maximum allowed, for his role in the cover-up and deadly shooting.
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Ronald Madison, 40, a mentally disabled man, and James Brissette, 19, were killed, and four other men were wounded as they looked for food five days after the storm hit New Orleans.
Hunter and four other former cops pleaded guilty in the attack.
Hunter, it seems, was the best of a bad lot of New Orleans officers on patrol that night.
He stopped a police sergeant from kicking Madison's body, and Hunter cooperated with prosecutors and provided key information against the other officers.
A reduction in Hunter's prison sentence could be in the offing if he continues to work with prosecutors.
Watching this sad case go forward is a little like watching sausage being made -- while the end result will be palatable, its production is less than appetizing.
In this case, justice will ultimately be served as the officers get their long stints in prison, the families of the victims get some financial compensation from the state and city and the New Orleans police is forced to undergo new training in an attempt to prevent this from happening again.
But listening to the anguish of the victims' families and watching dirty police officers turn on even dirtier officers in search of lighter prison sentences is enough to make you sick.
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Comments: (4)
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By: paul on 12/02/2010 5:10PM
Ok - the sausage analogy was really out there. How long have you been saving that one?
And the police training? Are they going to be trained on how to resist the urge to shoot at unarmed citizens, or just how to do it without making the evening news?
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By: aj on 12/03/2010 11:13AM
dissapointing. justice isnt served here. in my city a police officer was shot down tragically last month and the guilty man, a black man has already been sentenced to death. up north three cops had a man handcuffed face down and one of them accidentally shot him to death. that man got less time than michael Vick. to hear that these professional police officers did such a horrific crime and seemed to do so because they were under duress...what the heck is that? where is the professionalism? Justice isnt served here.
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By: SATANSGIFT219 on 12/03/2010 11:01PM
I think the cops who killed those two men, and wounded four others, should get no less than LIFE in PRISON. Sadly, I just don't see that happening because black lives aren't held in the same value as the lives of white people.
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By: ADRIAN HARRIS OF SOUTH GEORGIA 1986 GRAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE on 12/04/2010 3:18PM
HAIL!!!! MASCULINE SALUTATIONS TO YOU MASTER!!!! HAIL!! SEPIA PEOPLE!!! MY COMMENT--BLACK HISTORY----A DEVASTATING BLAST FROM "BLUE THUNDER" ECHOES THROUGH THE MERCILESS NIGHT. IN THE TARGET AREA, HEAT FROM THE INCENERATION BOMB REACHES OVER 3000 DEGRESS. AS THE FIRESTORM RAGES FROM THE BLAST, OVER 59 HOMES ARE DESTROYED, WHILE 14 PEOPLE ARE KILLED IN THE ORIGINAL BOMBED HOUSE. FOURTEEN PEOPLE, INCLUDING 4 CHILDREN, BLOWN TO PIECES IN A HOUSE BOMBED BY "STATE POLICE". IS THIS EL SALVADOR, GUATAMALA, SAIGON, BEIRUT, BELFAST IN NORTHERN IRELAND? IS THIS BLAST AN OUTRAGE OF A MERICILESS CIVIL WAR, LIKE SPAIN, KOREA, VIETNAM? NO; IT IS AMERICA, IN PEACE TIME, PHILADELPHIA; THE BLACK COMMUNITY OF WEST PHILLY SPECIFICALLY. OSAGE AVE; BRIGHT, MIDDLECLASS ACHIEVERS. HOME OWNERS; HARDWORKING, SECURE, RESPECTABLE AMERICAN DREAMERS ENJOYING THEIR "PIECE OF THE ROCK". WORK ETHIC IMMIGRANTS IN SEPIA: STERN, DISCIPLINED PROFESSIONALS, WHITE COLLAR WORKERS, SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS WITH CHILDREN IN ONE OR MANY COLLEGES; TRUE BELIEVERS LIVING THE AMERICAN METAPHOR, "STRIVING TO MAKE IT BLACK". IN ONE BLINK OF AN EYELASH A MILLION DREAMS DESTROYED; DEBRIE FROM HUNDREDS OF LIVES LIES MOANING IN THE SMOKING RUINS FROM THE DEADLIEST BLAST SINCE THE MASS ASSASSINATION OF OUR BABIES IN BIRMINGHAM (YOU DO REMEMBER BIRMINGHAM?), 1963. PHILADELPHIA, 1985: BIRMINGHAM 2; OPENING ROUND IN THE MILITARY WAR AGAINST AFRO-AMERICA! A WAR CONDUCTED BY THE STATE POLICE LINKED WITH A VAST NETWORK INTO FEDERAL AGENCIES-FBI, CIA, DIA, ARMY INTELLIGENCE. EVIDENTLY, REVERSING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WAS TOO SLOW FOR THE REAGANITE COWBOYS; AFFIRMITIVE DESTRUCTION BECOMES THEIR FINAL SOLUTION! SEE HIM. SEE HIM SWEAT, ROLLING STEPIN'FETCHIT EYES: A BIG, BLACK, NUTLESS NIGGA! STUTTERING & STAMMERING LIKE BEN VEREEN, IN BLACKFACE, "EXPLAINING" HIS COON SHOW FOR REAGAN! GEORGE "KINGFISH" STEVENS REBORN "DE MAYOR"--A GUTLESS FLUNKEY, A SPINELESS MONKEY NOTORIOUS FOR PIMPING MONDALE AGAINST JESSIE JACKSON; COMING INTO HIS TRUE ROLE AS FRONT MAN FOR THE AMERICAN GESTAPO. "EXPLAINING" HOW HE TOOK PERSONAL RESPONSIBILTY" FOR WIPPING OUT A BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD! YEAH, MOVE WAS SPACED-OUT CITY: PLAYING "BACK-TO-NATURE" GAMES IN AN UPTIGHT URBAN ENVIRONMENT. BUT FOR THAT--AND BEING DEFIANTLY BLACK-IN-AMERICA- THEY AND THEIR CHILDREN WERE EXTEERMINATED LIKE ANIMALS! BE DEFIANT AND UNWASHED IN AMERICA; TALK LOUD & THREATENING WITH INCISIVE CRUDITY, AND YOU GO ON THE BOUNTY LIST, WITH WOLVES, FOXES, COYOTES, AND OTHER VARMENTS. EVEN YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE SAVAGELY MURDERED, WHILE SOME NEAT, AUTHORITIVE, ESTABLISHIMENT PURITAN "EXPLAINS" TO A GULLIBLE PUBLIC!----FROM THE PYRAMIDS TOTHE PROJECTS BY ASKIA M. TOURE'(AUTHOR--ISBN-O-86543-135-3CLOTH OR 0-86543-136-1PAPER. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 89-85241), LASTLY-AFRICA WORLD PRESS, INC., 15 INDUSTRY COURT, TRENTON, N.J., 08638, PHONE: (609)771-1666 OR FAX: (609) 771-1616)--IF YOU WANT YOUR VERY OWN COPY. BYE ALL, GET PLENTY OF FLUIDS AND SLEEP. LOVE YE ONE ANOTHER!! THAT'S HOW WE GOT THIS FAR! BYE!!!
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