-*-*-Ex-cop says he helped cover up Katrina shootings-*-*-

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former police detective testified Monday that he participated in a plot to fabricate witnesses, falsify reports and plant a gun to make it seem police were justified in shooting unarmed residents on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.

....Lehrmann said the false accounts of what officers did on the bridge continually changed as they honed their cover story.

"The lies changed whenever we needed to change them," he said.

....Weeks after the shooting, Lehrmann said he and Bowen returned to the bridge a day before crime scene technicians were to collect evidence. Lehrmann said he saw Bowen kick shell casings off the bridge where police shot several people.

....Lehrmann, who already has been sentenced to three years in prison, is one of five former officers who pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up. He is the fourth of those officers to testify at the trial, now entering its third week.