ktlight
29th June 2011, 07:45
FYI:
Five US policemen have gone on trial after being charged over a fatal shooting during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina back in 2005.
Former officer Robert Faulcon, Sgt Robert Gisevius, Sgt Kenneth Bowen and Officer Anthony Villavaso were in court on Monday as their trial began for allegedly killing two men and wounding four others without any justification.
On September 4, 2005, Ronald Madison, 40, and 17-year-old James Brissett were both shot dead by the police at Danziger Bridge, less than a week after Katrina made landfall.
Prosecutors believe the police decided to "shoot first and ask questions later" and then tried to cover up the crimes, according to the state-run BBC.
Prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein said police plotted to plant a gun, fabricate witnesses and falsify reports to cover up what they had done. Retired Sgt Arthur Kaufman is charged with the alleged cover-up.
Defense lawyers argued that the city was in chaos and the men should be viewed as heroes.
“They stayed. They stayed and they did their jobs under these horrible, horrible circumstances [...] And they did the best they could,” one of the lawyers told the court.
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest natural disaster as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.
At least 1,836 people died in the actual hurricane and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest US hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane.
Total property damage was estimated at USD 81 billion, nearly triple the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
source
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186672.html
Five US policemen have gone on trial after being charged over a fatal shooting during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina back in 2005.
Former officer Robert Faulcon, Sgt Robert Gisevius, Sgt Kenneth Bowen and Officer Anthony Villavaso were in court on Monday as their trial began for allegedly killing two men and wounding four others without any justification.
On September 4, 2005, Ronald Madison, 40, and 17-year-old James Brissett were both shot dead by the police at Danziger Bridge, less than a week after Katrina made landfall.
Prosecutors believe the police decided to "shoot first and ask questions later" and then tried to cover up the crimes, according to the state-run BBC.
Prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein said police plotted to plant a gun, fabricate witnesses and falsify reports to cover up what they had done. Retired Sgt Arthur Kaufman is charged with the alleged cover-up.
Defense lawyers argued that the city was in chaos and the men should be viewed as heroes.
“They stayed. They stayed and they did their jobs under these horrible, horrible circumstances [...] And they did the best they could,” one of the lawyers told the court.
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest natural disaster as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.
At least 1,836 people died in the actual hurricane and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest US hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane.
Total property damage was estimated at USD 81 billion, nearly triple the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
source
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186672.html