News / Politics
Grand Jury Indicts Seven New Orleans Police Officers on Murder or Attempted Murder Charges Related to Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
The seven New Orleans police officers implicated in the murder of two men and the attempted murder of four others have been indicted by a Grad Jury. The shootings occurred September 4, 2005 on the Danziger Bridge, just six days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city.
District Attorney Eddie Jordan painted the picture of group of renegade officers; void of any semblance of order or protocol. He implored the jury to indict the seven men, saying “We cannot allow our police officers to shoot and kill our citizens without justification like rabid dogs.”
Defense attorneys asserted that the officers had been responding to a radio call that two officers were hurt. When they arrived a group of men were seen running and exchanged gunfire with the officers.
One of the men killed, 40-year-old Ronald Madison, was a mentally retarded man who had been shot seven times, five of which entered his back. The other man killed, James Brissette, was only 19-years-old.
The judge ordered the officers to surrender within 24 hours. The four officers accused of murder were to be held without bond. They face a possible death sentence for the murder charges. The other three officers accused of attempted murder will be held on $100,000 bond for each count levied against them.
