NEWS > 04 January 2007

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The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,A
04 January 2007

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Cheers for police charged over

SEVEN policemen charged over a bridge shooting in the chaotic aftermath of hurricane Katrina have turned themselves in at the city jail, where more than 200 cheering supporters met them.

Each faces at least one charge of murder or attempted murder over the shootings on September 4, 2005, on the Danziger Bridge, where two people died and four were wounded.

Defence lawyers say the seven officers are innocent. As the men arrived at the jail, supporters lined the street. One sign in the crowd read "Thanks for protecting our city". One protester shouted "Police killings must stop" and "Racism must go", but was shouted down by the crowd yelling: "Heroes, heroes."

"These men stayed here to protect our city and protect us and this is the thanks that is given to them," said Ryan Maher, 34, of New Orleans, who said he had friends in the police department.

"It's a serious injustice," said Sergeant Henry Kuhn of the Harahan police department, one of several officers from the suburbs who joined the crowd.

What happened on the bridge remains murky. Police say the officers were responding to a report of other officers being shot when they came under fire.

Police also claim one of the men shot on the bridge, Ronald Madison, was reaching for a gun. Madison, a 40-year-old mentally retarded man, and James Brissette, 19, were killed.

A coroner said Madison was shot seven times, with five wounds in the back, but the officers' lawyers said all the wounds could have come from a single shotgun blast.

Madison's brother Lance, who was also on the bridge and was cleared of attempted murder charges, denies he or his brother was armed. He said they were running from a group of teenagers who had opened fire on the bridge when seven men jumped out of a rental truck and also shot at them without warning.

The Reverend Raymond Brown, of the New Orleans chapter of the National Action Network, said racism was a factor in the shootings, even though four of the officers, like the two victims, were black. "We see the black officers as just following their master," Mr Brown said.

The officers are scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow.

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Article sourced from

The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,A04 January 2007

Cheers for police charged over

EiP Comments:

The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,A
04 January 2007