A third New Orleans police officer was charged today in connection with the 2005 shootings of unarmed civilians by police on Danziger Bridge, which took place less than a week after Katrina hit the city.
Michael Hunter will plead guilty to obstruction of justice and misprision of felony charges, his attorney tells WDSU in New Orleans. In the past month or so, two other officers have pleaded guilty to charges related to covering up the killings.
Hunter allegedly drove the truck full of officers to the bridge, where they would, according to the government, kill two unarmed civilians and seriously injure four others. And he then allegedly lied to investigators about what happened.
The Times-Picayune runs down the charges, which you can read in full below:
It also alleges that Hunter took part with other officers in a previously disclosed secret meeting in a gutted police station to talk about their plans and make sure their concocted stories rang true.After the meeting, Hunter met with homicide detectives and provided a “false account of the shootings” that was consistent with the fabricated stories the officers had just discussed in the meeting, according to the bill filed Tuesday
The charges don’t bear on Hunter’s actions on the bridge — where a now-discredited police report said he fired three shots that did not hit anyone.
The case is being prosecuted by attorneys with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with the U.S. Attorney in Louisiana. We took a broad look at the Danziger Bridge case in this post.
Here’s the bill of information:
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