Punctuating what New Orleans' mayor called a
"dark chapter" in his city's history, five former local police officers
were sentenced Wednesday for their role in the Danziger Bridge shooting
incident, which left two innocent people dead and four others seriously
wounded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
U.S. District Court
Judge Kurt Englehardt handed down long sentences for four of the
officers, ranging from 38 to 65 years in prison. The fifth, former Sgt.
Arthur Kauffman -- who was not involved in the shootings, but was
involved in an attempted cover-up -- received six years.
The Danziger case was the
most notorious of several instances of violent police misconduct in the
days after Hurricane Katrina, when great swaths of the city were
flooded, looters roamed the streets, and many public services, including
the Police Department, were in dramatic disarray.
In August,
after a six-week trial, a jury found the former officers of the New
Orleans Police Department guilty of federal civil rights and obstruction
of justice statutes. ......................................
No comments:
Post a Comment