New Orleans Shooting Cover-Up: The Worst Type of Police Corruption
There have been many police shootings in which officers have shot people they reasonably though erroneously thought presented a threat. Perhaps the most well known of these is the case of Amadou Diallo, who in 1999 was shot and killed by four NYPD plainclothes officers. The officers were charged with second-degree murder and other charges, but were acquitted after testifying that they believed Diallo, who resembled a man wanted for rape, was pulling a gun when he in fact was pulling out his wallet. Yes, the officers went through the ordeal of a trial, but by being forthright during the investigation and in their testimony at trial, they persuaded the jury that their actions in shooting Diallo were, though tragically mistaken, reasonable. The jury almost certainly would have reached a different conclusion had the officers planted a gun on Diallo or otherwise attempted to fabricate some justification for the shooting.
Here in Los Angeles, a central event in what came to be known as the Rampart scandal was a shooting in which a gang member named Javier Ovando was shot and paralyzed by Officers Rafael Perez and Nino Durden, two of the scandal’s central figures. After shooting Ovando, Perez and Durden planted a gun on him, then fabricated an account of the shooting which led to Ovando’s imprisonment. The Ovando incident led to changes in the way the LAPD investigates officer-involved shootings, and protocols now in place make it unlikely that officers can collude to cover up an unjustified shooting.
The New Orleans Police Department had similar protocols for officer-involved shootings but, like much of the department’s infrastructure, those protocols were washed away when Katrina brought the levees down. The personnel that ordinarily would have responded to a police shooting simply weren’t available, which obligated Michael Lohman all the more to see to it that those rudimentary investigative steps mentioned above were taken.
And the Danziger Bridge shooting wasn’t the only one in which the official police accounts have been questioned. Reporters from the New Orleans Times Picayune, PBS’s Frontline, and ProPublica have worked together to examine these incidents, the full truth of which in some cases may never be known.
Which makes the Danziger Bridge conspiracy all the more pernicious. By fabricating evidence to cover up a wrongful shooting, the officers at the Danziger Bridge cast a long shadow of doubt on their entire department, the vast majority of whose members performed selflessly and valorously as Katrina struck and in the chaotic days that followed. If officers were anxious and too quick to shoot in some instances, it was not entirely without justification. New Orleans long ago earned the reputation as the country’s murder capital, a dubious title it retains to this day. (See here, for example, at how horrifyingly common murders are in some parts of the city.) And recall too that Officer Kevin Thomas was shot in the head by one of four suspected thieves he stopped in New Orleans’s Algiers neighborhood the day after Katrina struck.
And if we acknowledge that the officers lied about the Danziger Bridge shooting, we must also allow that those who accuse the police of unjustified shootings may also have their motivation to lie. One of the shootings called into question by the Times-Picayune was that of Keenon McCann, who, police alleged, was shot while armed with a handgun while on an overpass near the Superdome on September 1, 2005. No gun was recovered, and police speculated that McCann threw it either into the floodwaters below or onto an adjacent overpass where it was picked up and carried away.
The McCann shooting put me in mind of a 1991 incident here in South Los Angeles. On the day after Thanksgiving, LAPD officers responded to reports of shots fired in the Imperial Courts housing project, known then as now for its gang activity and violent crime. Officers traded gunfire with some gang members, one of whom was Henry Peco, who was armed with an AK-47 rifle. Peco was killed in the gunfight, but in the confusion that followed the shooting someone picked up and escaped with the rifle Peco had been firing. Peco’s family claimed he had been shot while unarmed, and the incident led to days of marches and protests, some of which were joined by Jesse Jackson and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. The protest movement was finally deflated when two men pleaded guilty to attempted murder and to taking and hiding Peco’s rifle.
As happened in the Peco shooting, it is entirely plausible that Keenon McCann was armed with a gun, and that the gun disappeared before the police could secure it. Sadly, the revelations about the Danziger Bridge shooting make it that much easier to believe McCann’s claim that he was unarmed. McCann filed a lawsuit against the New Orleans Police Department, but in a strange twist of fate he never saw it go to trial. He was murdered in August 2008, a crime that remains unsolved.
New Orleans has made great strides in the years since Katrina devastated the city, but if it is to surrender the title of America’s murder capital it will need an effective police department. And if the police are to be effective they must win and maintain the trust of the citizens they serve. Michael Lohman and his fellow conspirators have done incalculable damage to that trust and left to others the task of rebuilding it, a feat in many ways far more difficult than rebuilding a city. But if the Saints can win the Super Bowl, perhaps anything is possible.
There is a common thread in all these incidents.
Some folks imply with bad jokes that Cajuns aren’t too smart.
But anybody who would build a city 10 feet below sea level in a Hurricane zone and fill it with Democrats is a damn genius.
Los Angeles and New York just need to be a few feet lower.
that’s good news!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent reminder for everyone that no matter how tempting it is to “fix it” on the quietus when an operation goes awry, it is always better to face than sleep with dragons. “The lie goes ’round the world twice before truth gets its pants on” applies in rebuilding trust, too.
Adrenaline rushes in pursuing officers have to play an important part in poor crisis decision making, imo. Have thought for years middle size departments on up should work out a special always-available detail – somewhat like SWAT – for chase situations to take over scenes and make final apprehension approaches while pursuers hold back and only charged with maintaining a close perimeter. Obviously it ain’t gonna happen, but think of the benefits when fresh brains – any brains – are needed to make sudden life-changing judgments. My worst mistakes were made when I was “rushed”. Anyone else have the same experience? Duh!
Were the people shot bad guys? Were they doing something bad like looting? Sometimes good people do stupid things. They should face the music, but ask yourself what were the circumstances that led to the shooting. And what is the political atmosphere in N.O. during that time? Do they have a “hang the police” mentality that made the officers think they had no chance if they came forward? Were they good cops or bad? That can happen, people are people and there are good cops and bad, like good doctors or bad, plumbers etc.
There is always more to the situation. Police work is not pristine. Anyone who thinks differently is a fool, bucking for a promotion or not long on the job because some bad guy is going to get them. No you don’t plant evidence, or lie. But at the same time you don’t look to throw everybody under the bus for doing something wrong by accident. You’ll end up with only cops who are too scared to work the streets, or bureaucrats with badges who look to gain advantage by walking on the backs of other officers.
There is an old saying in police work. “If you aren’t getting some complaints, you aren’t doing your job.” That is because most of the complaints are bad guys who are trying to get you off their backs so they can continue their criminal ways.
Idiot.
This is the very worst type of police corruption. Lohman was a lieutenant, and as the senior officer at the shooting scene he had a duty, both moral and legal, to provide leadership to subordinates who, in the aftermath of Katrina, were working under conditions no police officer who didn’t experience them can imagine. He failed miserably, and in that failure he exposed those subordinates to legal jeopardy far beyond that which may have been warranted had they all simply told the truth about what had occurred.
The subordinates concocted their own stories of their own free will. Lohman actually saved them the first time by noting how lame their falsifications were and coming up with something a little more durable. This article reaks of a boot-licking fetishist out to prove that police officers are never wrong—there’s always an excuse. Blame it on the guy who wasn’t involved in the shooting but saved their butts, blame it on Diallo, who should have known that you don’t show the police your ID…oh wait, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Did I write that you were an idiot already?
Oscar (no. 6 above): I’ll let the readers make their own determination as to which of us is an idiot. And by the way, you misspelled “reeks.”
Murdering unarmed civilian it’s not justifiable under any circumstances, I don’t care what kind of adrenaline rush these officers were having, adrenaline rushes were never good defenses for murder otherwise we never have an convictions.
These most have been rookie cops, as a lot of the more experienced cops already carry a clean (untraceable) gun to use as a plant in situation such as these. It’s unfortunate that these officers got caught, the must have been pretty stupid or scared or both most officers protect each other and make sure they have their story down pat and seniors never question it, there must be something else to this story, like maybe some bad blood between some of the officers….
#1, your statement is as ignorant as it is inaccurate.
I remember the coverage in that city – and the media made it sound like people could not be helped because AID workers feared the mobs of blacks.
The rumors of gunshots were certainly reasonable given the circumstances – but the police and aid mirrored the racism of the Bush administration…
I can just hear Brownie sayin
“If we try to give them water with choppers, they will swamp the mission and down the planes – these animals are too dangerous right now.”
It made me sick. The police were so busy looking at people as enemies – they lost their humanity. I cried for days watching the ignorance of those police and administrative goons.
Jack Dunphry – there is no place for spell check in this medium.
You sound like every other zealot who cannot argue the merits – so they look for typos to “pigeon hole” their opponent.
that is so so SO SO telling about who you are and what you’re made of.
Ray, just because a civilian is unarmed doesn’t mean he or she is not dangerous, either to the cops or to the general public.
If you’d ever seen a guy who’s blasted on Meth-Amphetamine you’d understand what I’m saying. Stun guns don’t usually work with those types and getting close enough to use a nightstick could put the officer(s) lives in danger.
I DO AGREE that it’s a rare circumstance indeed where the shooting of an unarmed civilian is justified, but it is possible.
I THINK THAT’ WHY IT’S CALLED: “NO PD”?
G Marks,
There is no need defend canuck because the ignorance in his post is total, even without the spelling errors. 1.) Cajuns live in a different area outside of New Orleans. Creole is the correct word he should have used. 2.) New Orleans is 50% at and above sea level and is actually an inland city. The Greater New Orleans area is 96% at or above sea level. The port, one of the largest in the US, is located exactly where it should be, at the farthest point north on the river that large ocean going vessels can reach. New Orleans and SE La rebuilt without the help of “good” people like Canuck that can easily justify abandoning Americans. Canuck, you may like to know that the first rescuers to reach St.Bernard Parish (across the railroad tracks from the Lower Ninth Ward) about 5 days after the levees broke, was the Royal Canadian Mounties out of Vancouver. I love most Canadians. They have been very good to the city.
As to the article, the charging of the police in the cover up is a continuation of the good news in New Orleans. In the old New Orleans, these men would have gotten away with it. Not any more. They are joining the ever growing list of city workers and politicians that have hurt my great city for far too long. Good news all around.
I’ll let the readers make their own determination as to which of us is an idiot.
Yes, you idiot, one of them just did.
oscar le grouche is a fake Oscar. He’s a spoiled sport trying to sully the good name of Oscar.
G Marks, you’re way off the mar..
When something doesn’t match up in your/ left’s view, presto! Racism.
Perhaps you should look at Bush’s cabinet before putting out such illogical nonsense.
Apparently Obama’s, ‘..acted stupidly’ moronic comment regarding the officer and a college professor had no color incantations… suuuuure.
As for your hypothetical thought’s of FEMA’s ex head honcho Brown.. I can’t say too many admirable things about him. But to envision racism to help you sleep at night, have at it big guy.
The true ignorance was the N O residents who decided to ‘ride out’ a Category IV hurricane approaching a city that is 8 feet BELOW sea level prior to Katrina.
FYI, Biloxi, Mississippi received far more devastating damage than N O. Sure, N O flooded, though that was due to the dated levees YOUR Louisiana officials put off for decades to update, repair.
Again, Biloxi. A city in a state which is sadly ALWAYS in the bottom of the public education test scores nationwide. Though they were smart enough to flee the city before Katrina made landfall, thus the very few fatalities incurred.
As for N O, these very same people re-elected the incompetent Ray Nagin for their Mayor after Katrina!?
Whereas many N O officials admitted they ‘dropped the ball’ in hindsight of Katrina.
But hey, Nagin loves his ‘chocolate city’ (I could’ve SWORN I saw white people at the dome as well..) and to placate blame, right? It worked for crackhead former Mayor Barry. But not suspended/ disgraced Marion Barry.
Victimhood is raison-d’etre for the uneducated. No worries, that mind draining, group-think mentality is a Democratic favorite. Let me guess your party…
6. oscar le grouche:
Missed it the first time through so I reread it. Missed it again. Dunphy pretty often chides cops for getting it wrong or doing bad things, so maybe little “oscar” is projecting something of his own here. The point here is that a supervisory cop worsened the situation by screwing up and faking “what happened” officially. That totally wiped out any chance of any one of the front line officers, if he/she had wanted to, of getting it right. Rereading this comment confirms my first impression. The first word is a self-identifier while the rest is trash.
Paul-unalaskan,
You are living in an imaginary world of your own making. You are SO FAR off the mark I am not even going to go over point by point how far off the mark you are. My 80 year old mother was a resident of Pass Christian, MS and lived there until she moved this January. You don’t have a clue of the reality of the Gulf South. Try selling your babble to someone who hasn’t lived it.
doc, I DID live in Biloxi, Mississippi. I’d spent quite a bit of time there in the Air Force. You needn’t go over ‘point by point’ for it’s CONJECTURE. You too apparently live in fantasy land as well.
I was there in ’98 for Hurricane Georges. Stuffed in a basement for 3 + days. Volunteering in many facets on/off base for the 2 are intertwined.
Not to mention I’ve friends stationed at Keesler and the nearby naval base in Gulfport.
Again, victim hood is a horrible cologne..
Tell me again how much Government assistance was needed in ’09 during the flooding of ND’s Red River? The ice storms in the North? How about the present flooding in the Northeast? ZERO. NONE. NADA. Why? It’s due to a STRONG LOCALIZED GOVERNMENT, tight knit community coming together to assist their fellow man. Possessing the mindset of self perseverance/ can-do attitude, not empathy. Something many, entitled-minded people in N O are still trying to ‘sell’. Sorry, doc. I’m not buying your snake oil..
A prime requisite of good police supervision is to, quite simply, keep your officers out of trouble. Moreover, once an incident goes awry, a good supervisor does NOT cave in and acquiesce to the poor decisions of his officers and become part of the coverup. Instead, he should become a “truth seeker” while securing the scene and preventing it’s contamination until the arrival of the detectives. Sadly, Lieutenant Lohman chose to be a “friend” rather than doing his job while abandoning his honor and integrity. In these kinds of incidents, it is better to be part of the truth than part of the coverup which, almost always, comes apart in the courtroom.
20. doctorj2u:
What is your point? Your retort to paul_unalaska: seems petty and contrary to established accounts. Please clarify.
Bill Gannon, I don’t believe we’ll get much of a lucid-type response from doc. I appreciate a fellow poster holding other poster’s comments to review.
Lastly, the Red River is in flood stage AGAIN. Though sandbags are filled, shipped in and ready, or ready as can be to avert a catastrophe.
I do wish Nagin and his minions are watching and taking notes..
@6. oscar le grouche:
“This article reaks [sic] of a boot-licking fetishist out to prove that police officers are never wrong—there’s always an excuse.”
I read and reread the article and could not find anything to support this accusation. The author clearly points out that the lieutenant was wrong and had no excuse for what he did. The whole point of the article is that the situation was bad to begin with: an apparent case of police officers shooting unarmed civilians. Had it been left at that, the officers’ conduct would have been investigated and if found to be justified, they most likely would have been acquitted. That was the point of bring up the shootings in NYC and LA.
But the lieutenant failed to do his duty at the scene; instead of gathering the facts and letting the judicial process take its course, he made an on-the-scene decision that their conduct wasn’t justified and proceeded to cover it up – either by instigating or by participating in the cover up. Now any further investigation into the officers’ conduct will be tainted by the cover up. Even if their original conduct had been justified, it is now cast into doubt because of the cover up; in addition, now a senior officer is also under investigation and the NO PD has received a black mark on their record. In the end, the lieutenant’s decision to cover up what actually happened made a bad situation worse for everyone involved; it makes no difference whether or not it was his idea or someone else’s.
Bill Gannon,
The point of the retort is that the babble of Paul_unalaskan cannot hurt me anymore because my city will survive. In the three years after the storm when I did not know this, people like Paul hurt me over and over and over again. I am a conservative whose world was destroyed by Katrina. I fought everyday for the survival of my world My world was and is New Orleans, the MS Gulf Coast and the northshore of Lake Ponchatrain. I was a hardcore believer in what I thought wss the “compassionate conservative” movement. I did not know until the tragedy of Katrina that was a bunch of hogswill. What the conservative movement is is the “I’ve got mine, don’t ask anything of me” movement.
I witnessed the MS. Gulf Coast first hand, before even the general public could get in. In truth, they bought into the “We are self sufficient and don’t need help like New Orleans” BS until about a year and a half after the storm when New Orleans was healing and they were still sitting in debris. Katrina was a tragedy beyond comprehension. Outside help was a necessity. I knew New Orleans would survive April 2008. It was May 2009 before I knew the Ms. Gulf Coast would be OK. I can go into great detail if you want, because I lived the seconds on the “recovery”. I know every moment of abandonment and the beauty of the everyday American volunteers. I don’t believe in any government agency anymore. It is a joke. What kills me is people like Paul-unalaskan that will defend the undefensible. A government that will not protect their own citizens. A government that would actively make the victims of a disaster their own enemy to protect their own inaction.
Scene from the upcoming HBO series “Treme”. This is the truth of post-Katrina New Orleans.
http://www.hbo.com/global-video/video.html/?autoplay=true&vid=1085428&filter=treme&view=null
If you don’t get it, you never will. I feel sorry for you all if you don’t.
Hopefully, New Orleans was cleaned of much of its dead weight freeloading criminals. The sad part is that those low lifes had to end up someplace else.
Yep they ended up in Houston because dumbo Bill White and his apologetic Dimo.crats invited them, yep they sure are up-standing citizens, about the only good thing I can say about them is between them, the illegals Wetback gangs and the resident criminal scum they are too busy f*cking each other over and leaving the rest of us alone.. Of course being Texas we all carry…