| Danziger Bridge Shootings | |
|---|---|
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana, United States |
| Date | Sunday, September 4, 2005 (CDT) |
| Attack type | Murder, police brutality |
| Weapon(s) | Assault rifle, shotgun |
| Deaths | 2 |
| Injured | 4 |
| Perpetrator | New Orleans Police Department |
The Danziger Bridge shootings were a police shooting that took place on September 4, 2005, at the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans, Louisiana. Six days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the city's police department killed two people: seventeen-year-old James Brissette and forty-year-old Ronald Madison. Four other civilians were wounded. All victims were unarmed. Madison, a mentally disabled man, was shot in the back. New Orleans police fabricated a cover-up story for their crime, falsely reporting that seven police officers responded to a police dispatch reporting an officer down, and that at least four people were firing weapons at the officers upon their arrival.[1]
On August 5, 2011, a New Orleans Federal Court jury convicted five police officers of a myriad of charges related to the cover-up and deprivation of civil rights.[2]
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The police officers involved in the shooting were taken into custody on January 2, 2007 and were indicted for murder and attempted murder.[3] NOPD officers Robert Gisevius, Kenneth Bowen, and Anthony Villavaso were charged with the first-degree murder of Brissette. NOPD officer Robert Faulcon was charged with the first-degree murder of Madison. Those officers, as well as NOPD officers Michael Hunter, Ignatius Hills and Robert Barrios, were indicted on charges of attempted murder relating to the other four victims.[4] On August 13, 2008, charges against the officers were dismissed by District Judge Raymond Bigelow due to misconduct by the prosecution with regards to the grand jury.[5]
In September 2008, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI began investigating the case. U.S. Attorney Jim Letten vowed his office would take "as much time and resources as necessary" to resolve the case.[6]
After a year and a half of investigation, on February 24, 2010, former New Orleans police lieutenant Michael Lohman entered a plea of guilty to obstruction of justice in federal court.[1] Lohman admitted to encouraging the officers to "provide false stories about what had precipitated the shooting" and planting a firearm near the scene.[7] On March 11, 2010, Jeffrey Lehrmann, another former NOPD officer, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for failing to report the cover-up.[8]
On April 7, 2010, Michael Hunter, one of the seven officers originally charged with attempted murder in 2007, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony and obstruction of justice.[9] His first hand account, if accurate, reveals that the Danziger bridge shooting was simply a shooting of unarmed civilians.[10] A man identified in the court document as "Sergeant A", according to Hunter, fired at unarmed civilians, who were trying to shield themselves behind a concrete barrier, with an assault rifle "in a sweeping motion". Meanwhile, on the other side of the bridge, a man identified as "Officer A" shot Ronald Madison in the back with a shotgun, from a moving police vehicle, as Madison ran away. Madison had his hands in plain view while he ran, held no weapon, and did not pose a threat. After the shooting of Madison, "Sergeant A" ran from the other side of the bridge. He proceeded to kick and stomp Madison as he lay bleeding to death from his fatal wound.
On April 16, 2010, Robert Barrios was charged by a bill of information with one count of conspiring to obstruct justice, becoming the fourth NOPD officer to be federally charged in the case. He promptly resigned from the force.[11] A fifth man, a civilian, has also been charged in the case. Marion David Ryder, who is expected to plead guilty to the charges, is accused of lying to the FBI about the event. He falsely claimed that one of the victims had a weapon.[12]
On April 28, 2010, a civilian named Marion David Ryder who witnessed the incident and falsely represented himself as a law enforcement officer pleaded guilty to lying to FBI officials.[13]
On May 21, 2010, Ignatius Hills was charged by a bill of information with one count of conspiring to obstruct justice and one count of misprision of a felony, to become the fifth NOPD officer to be federally charged.[14] He had resigned from the force the previous day.[15]
On July 13, 2010, a federal grand jury indicted Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon, and Anthony Villavaso in connection with the shooting and subsequent cover-up. Additionally Archie Kaufman and Gerard Dugue, the original investigators in the case, were charged with falsifying reports and false prosecution in the conspiracy to cover-up the shooting.[16] The charges could carry penalties as high as the death penalty. While the federal government lacks jurisdiction in this case to file murder charges, they may file charges under federal civil rights statutes intended to enforce Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. Under Title 18 U.S.C. Section 242, "Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law," anyone who acts, under color of law, to unlawfully deprive a citizen of their right to life, may be sentenced to death.[17]
Guilty verdicts were handed down for Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso and Kaufman on August 5, 2011.[18] Sentencing was set for December 14, 2011. All of the defendants except for Kaufman were ordered to remain in custody to await sentencing. Kaufman, whose involvement was in the cover-up and not the actual shooting, was allowed to post bond.