BAD BOYSWhat you Gonna do?Bad Policing Post-Katrina

Taylor WoodsMarjorie Breda

"We cannot allow our police officers to shoot and kill our citizens without justification, like rabid dogs. The rules governing the use of lethal force are not suspended during a state of emergency. Everyone, including police officers, must abide by the law of the land.“-Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie

Jordan

Outline Danziger Bridge incident Henry Glover case Response of social contract theorists

to New Orleans post-Katrina Conclusions

Danziger Bridge Incident

September 4 2005, Chef Menteur Highway

7 police officers involved in shooting 8 people stranded looking for water

4 victims wounded, 2 (James Brissette and Ronald Madison) killed

Jeffrey Lehrmann found guilty of cover up

Michael Lohman awaiting sentencing for obstruction of justice

Sergeant Kenneth Bowen 1 count first-degree

murder of James Brissette

6 counts attempted first-degree murder: Leonard Bartholomew III Susan Bartholomew Lesha Bartholomew Jose Holmes Jr. Lance Madison Ronald Madison

SERGEANT ROBERT GISEVIUS

1 count first-degree murder of James Brissette

2 counts attempted first-degree murder: Lance Madison Ronald Madison

OFFICER ANTHONY VILLAVASO

1 count first-degree murder James Brissette

4 counts attempted first-degree: Leonard Bartholomew III Susan Bartholomew Lesha Bartholomew Jose Holmes Jr.

OFFICER ROBERT FAULCON

2 counts of attempted first-degree murder of James Brissette and Ronald Madison

4 counts attempted first-degree murder: Leonard Bartholomew III Susan Bartholomew Lesha Bartholomew Jose Holmes Jr.

OFFICER ROBERT BARRIOS

4 counts of attempted first-degree murder: Leonard Bartholomew III Susan Bartholomew Lesha Bartholomew Jose Holmes Jr.

OFFICER MICHAEL HUNTER

2 counts attempted first-degree murder: Lance Madison Ronald Madison

OFFICER IGNATIUS HILLS

1 count attempted second-degree murder of Leonard Bartholomew III

Jeffrey Lehrmann Pleaded guilty to concealing

knowledge of a federal crime “Lehrmann acknowledged that

he and fellow cops invented witnesses, planted a gun, twisted and changed victims' statements, and falsified reports.”

Sentenced to 3 years in prison, the maximum for his charge

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/09/jeffrey_lehrmann_ex-nopd_offic.html

Michael Lohman Plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to

obstruct justice “Lohman was aware that a subordinate planted a

gun at the scene. He also wrote a 17-page police report full of lies about the incident and encouraged officers at the scene to remove shell casings.”

“Lohman understood that the investigator was going to use the gun as evidence to justify the shooting of the civilians, and he went along with that plan to plant evidence.”

“[He] admitted that he knew that the civilians on the bridge had not actually possessed guns, and he knew that the investigator had also falsified statements by the civilians”

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/02/police_supervisor_pleads_guilt.html

Investigation All 7 police indicted on 12/28/2006 All 7 turned themselves in on 1/2/2007

Those with first-degree murder charges not eligible for bail Those with only attempted murder charges offered bail of

$100,000 per count▪ Only Hunter posted bail on that day

Bowen, Gisevius, Villavaso and Faulcon released from OPP on 1/5/2007, fitted with ankle monitors and put on house arrest

On 8/13/2008 all murder and attempted murder charges against the officers were dropped on account that an Orleans Parish prosecutor improperly revealed a piece of testimony to other officers “"The violation is clear, and indeed, uncontroverted. The

state improperly disclosed grand jury testimony to another police officer," -Judge Raymond Bigelow

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/murder_charges_against_seven_n.html

Final Charges After murder charges were dropped by Judge

Raymond Bigelow, the FBI picked up the case On 7/13/2010, the following charges were issued:

Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso are all charged with a civil rights violation for shooting James Brissette and injuring members of the Bartholomew family

Faulcon is charged with a civil rights violation for killing Ronald Madison

Bowen is charged with a civil rights violation for kicking and stomping Madison after he had already been fatally wounded

All four also charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to investigators

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/07/us_attorney_general_to_discuss.html

Walker Responds to Danziger Bridge Police Actions Walker says the typical victim is

thought to be white All those killed or injured were black

Walker says typical offender is thought to be African American or Hispanic (non-white) 3 of the 7 offenders were white

Henry Glover Case 5 officers indicted

on 7/30/2010: David Warren Lt. Robert Italiano Lt. Travis McCabe Lt. Dwayne

Scheuermann Officer Greg McCabe

David Warren Accused of shooting Glover in the

face “The charge -- deprivation of rights

under color of law -- is a capital offense, though the U.S. attorney general would have to make the decision to seek the death penalty”

Also charged with use of a weapon during commission of a crime Felony with a minimum 10 year

sentence

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/06/five_nopd_officers_indicted_in.html

Lts. Travis McCabe and Robert Italiano Both charged with

fabricating a report with intent to mislead further investigation and lying to FBI agents about their knowledge of the crime

McCabe is also charged with perjury Italiano faces a sentence of

up to 25 years McCabe faces a sentence

up to 30 years

Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann and Officer Greg McRae Each charged with 5 felony

counts Beating of 2 men (Tanner and

King) who attempted to help Glover

Burning of Glover’s body Obstructing a federal

investigation through destruction of evidence

Each faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted

Dwayne Scheuermann

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”: Past allegations against Scheuermann…

Upwards of 50 complaints prior to Katrina “…From accusations of brutality and

rape to improper searches and seizures. But none of the allegations ever stuck…Every time, Scheuermann was cleared and sent back onto the streets.”

“He has also fired his gun in at least 15 different incidents, wounding at least four people. Experts on police practices say the number is unusual -- most officers never fire their weapons.”http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/10/scheuermann.html

The baddest bad boy?

Despite the complaints, past praises….. “Amid the complaints,

Scheuermann has received plenty of commendations. and awards depicting [him] as a top cop, a relentless workhorse whose arrest numbers are unparalleled and a leader who has patrolled the most dangerous corridors of the city over a 23-year career..”

Seen as a hero to other policemen

President Bill Clinton bestowed a national award on him for "outstanding productivity throughout his career."

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/10/scheuermann.html

Worden’s Idea of Comraderie

All the cover-ups and falsification of reports were due to the conditioning of police to always look out for their fellow officers within their sense of “police culture” “This culture emphasizes the danger of the work

environment, the consequent dependence of officers on each other for assistance and protections…and the need to maintain one’s authority” (p. 4)

Brothers in blue

What would Hobbes say? Post-Katrina New Orleans was in a

state of nature due to the fact that there was “so little security of life and property, that all live in constant fear and productive work is pointless” (p. 2)

In this state, the police officers embodied the idea of the advantage of anticipation by “striking first or gathering power so that one will be in a stronger relative position when the battle erupts…[they hope] to improve one’s chances of success”. (p. 3)

It’s a state of nature! STRIKE

FIRST!

What Rousseau Thinks Rousseau would say that the NOPD officers

involved in this incident were not legitimate leaders because they were not pursuing the general will or “the ideal will of the community for its common good” (p. 206) for the victims of Hurricane Katrina

Due to the illegitimacy of their leaders post-Katrina, New Orleans citizens were not required to obey their commanders because, according to Rousseau “the commands of an unjust “sovereign” are not

conductive to civil peace, and hence to the possibility of moral life, and this fact relieves him of all moral obligation to obey them” (p. 213)

In accordance with the first law of nature that “entitles a person to give priority to his own self-preservation over that of others” (p. 213), the citizens New Orleans were justified in their looting.

Hmmm…

Conclusions

New Orleans post-Katrina was defined by the Lockean state of nature, or “the condition of men living together without legitimate government” (p.99) In this state of nature, there was already a

system of government in place, but it had failed to protect the citizens, therefore reducing New Orleans to a state of nature▪ This opposes Hobbes view of the state of nature

which is a state in which there is no government whatsoever in place

http://media.nola.com/law_and_disorder/photo/law-and-disorder-danziger-fbijpg-9e64c08f91cc65dd_medium.jpg- Danzinger Bridge photo

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Jul/Week3/15665597.jpg - James Brisette and Ronald Madison

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/09/danziger_bridge_shooting_suspe.html - Kenneth Bowen

http://blog.nola.com/tpcrimearchive/2006/12/7_no_cops_indicted_in_killings.html - Danzinger bridge quotes

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/158275/thumbs/s-ROBERT-BARRIOS-large.jpg- Robert Barrios http://www.propublica.org/images/nola/stories/ap_michael_hunter_570x400_100331.jpg- Michael

hunter http://media.nola.com/crime_impact/photo/ignatius-hillsjpg-d75d9f7cc3aff442_medium.jpg-

Ignatius Hills http://thumbnails.truveo.com/0020/69/D7/69D7A853E0E1FCD48952C0_Large.jpg- Lehrmann photo http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/murder_charges_against_seven_n.html http://blog.nola.com/tpcrimearchive/2007/04/cops_attorneys_can_look_at_gra.html http://blog.nola.com/tpcrimearchive/2007/01/judge_releases_4_police_office.html http://blog.nola.com/tpcrimearchive/2007/01/cheers_jeers_greet_jailbound_o.html http://blog.nola.com/tpcrimearchive/2006/12/7_no_cops_indicted_in_killings.html http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/02/police_investigator_encouraged.html - Lohman photo http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//profiles/image/Rousseau.gif -Rousseau photo http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//profiles/image/hobbes.jpg - Hobbes photo