Thursday, November 7, 2013

Katrina Killings Case


            In 2005 New, Orleans was hit with a one of the worst disasters in the United States. Hurricane Katrina rocked New Orleans and the United States frozen from shock. To make matters worse, one of the worst police misconduct case occurred just less than a week after Katrina hit in the city of New Orleans.


      Acquired at-http://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/category/hurricane-katrina/
            Katrina Killing Case

It started on bridge in the city of New Orleans. Six unarmed individuals walking on a bridge were looking for food and supplies when four officers approached them. The officers opened fire and shot all six, killing two. The four officers and a fifth investigating the incident attempted to place evidence and false witnesses in order to cover up the tragic incident. The officers falsely accused Lance Madison, one of the six individuals of the bridge of shooting at officers on the bridge. Madison was released when the judge freed him.
 The verdict

After a long investigation and lengthy case all five officers were found guilty of various crimes. One officer was convicted of fatally shooting Madison. Three officers were convicted in the killing of Brissette, and the fifth officer was convicted in participating in a cover up. Today all officers are serving time in prison.
                               Acquired at- http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2017902840_apuskatrinabridgeshootings.html

Who can we trust?

A city looking for help did not see it from the New Orleans Police. They lost trust in those who are there to provide help in their time of need. This made what was going even harder to all the individuals still in the city. I am glad to see a judge notice something was terribly wrong with the investigation, yet it should of never even come to that.


             Don’t Lose Trust

People need to remember that a very small amount of officers are considered bad cops, but a few individuals can make a whole department look corrupted. A quote by Douglas MacArthur “You are remember for the rules you break,” I believe sums up how the public views a police department when misconduct occurs. We judge the whole and not the individuals involved. It upsets me to see a department fall apart because of the actions of cops that should not be cops. The profession of being an officer of the law is very stressful and demanding. Most of the time officers are under paid for what they do. Most get into the profession not for the money but for the want to help. We should not lose trust in officers, because a couple lost track of their duties. We should give officer more credit for putting their life on the line to protect us. The New Orleans Police department used the Katrina Killings Case as a Centerpiece as a push to clean up the department.(“5 ex-cop”)


Work Cited

“5 ex-cops Sentenced In The Katrina Killings Case.” USA today. USA Today News, 4

Apr. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2013


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