TPMMuckraker James Brissette
New Orleans
Justice Department Moves To Reform Notorious New Orleans Police Department
The federal criminal investigation of the police shootings of civilians on Danziger Bridge in post-Katrina New Orleans is just part of what the Justice Department acknowledges is an intensive review of the city's notorious police department. One option under review, TPMmuckraker has learned, is filing a civil rights lawsuit against the city in a move similar to the one the Justice Department took against the Los Angeles Police Department a decade ago.
"Criminal prosecutions alone, I have learned, are not enough to change the culture of a police department," Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez told TPMmuckraker in an interview Monday.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: DOJ Civil Rights Division, Danziger Bridge, James Brissette, Len Davis, New Orleans, New Orleans Police Department, Ronald Madison, Section 14141, Thomas Perez
Michael Lohman
Ex-New Orleans Cop Pleads Guilty To Massive Cover Up In Post-Katrina Shootings
The Danziger Bridge (Fmr. New Orleans Police Lt. Michael Lohman inset)
A veteran New Orleans police officer pleaded guilty yesterday to orchestrating an elaborate cover-up of a shooting in the days after Katrina in which police gunned down six unarmed city residents, killing two and seriously wounding four.
The development -- which the Times-Picayune calls a "potentially devastating blow" to other officers linked to the case -- is the first plea in a wide-ranging federal probe of several post-Katrina police shootings. The Feds are reportedly looking at possible crimes in both the shootings themselves as well as the subsequent investigations.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (8)Topics: Danziger Bridge, James Brissette, Jim Letten, Katrina, Lance Madison, Leonard Bartholomew, Michael Lohman, New Orleans Police Department, Ronald Madison, Susan Bartholomew
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