Danziger Bridge

Civilian Pleads Guilty For Lying To FBI About Post-Katrina Shootings

Justin Elliott | April 28, 2010, 3:56PM

The Danziger Bridge in New Orleans

A man who was on the scene of the deadly police shootings of unarmed civilians on Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina pleaded guilty today to lying to an FBI agent about what happened that day, and for illegally possessing a firearm.

The guilty plea from David Ryder, 45, follows several guilty pleas from police officers who were involved in covering up the shooting, which left two unarmed civilians dead and four seriously injured. The Justice Department press release on the case describes how Ryder misled an FBI agent in the case:

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Danziger Bridge

Fourth New Orleans Officer Charged In Coverup Of Post-Katrina Shootings

Justin Elliott | April 16, 2010, 2:35PM

The Danziger Bridge in New Orleans

A fourth New Orleans police officer was charged today in connection with the coverup of the police shootings of unarmed civilians on Danziger Bridge in New Orleans less than a week after Hurricane Katrina struck.

Officer Robert Barrios is accused of conspiring to obstruct justice with other officers who were on the scene when police killed two people and seriously wounded four others in what the Times-Picayune editorial board recently dubbed a "massacre."

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New Orleans

Justice Department Moves To Reform Notorious New Orleans Police Department

Justin Elliott | April 13, 2010, 9:39AM

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.

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Danziger Bridge

New Orleans Cop Explains How Police Gunned Down Unarmed Civilians In Post-Katrina Incident

Justin Elliott | April 8, 2010, 9:47AM

Fmr. New Orleans Police Officer Michael Hunter, center, shown in 2007 before turning himself in for an earlier set of charges in the Danziger shootings

A former New Orleans police officer has given authorities a shocking account of the killing by police of two unarmed civilians and the wounding of four others on Danziger Bridge in post-Katrina New Orleans.

The account of the September 2005 incident by former Officer Michael Hunter, 33, who pleaded guilty yesterday to charges associated with the coverup of the shootings, is contained in a court filing that you can read in full below.

In this excerpt, Hunter describes another officer shooting Ronald Madison, 40, a mentally disabled man, in the back with a shotgun. A second officer then beat the dying man on the ground, according to Hunter.

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