Katrina New Orleans Police Officers Convicted of Civil Rights Violations for Killings

WASHINGTON—A federal jury today convicted five officers from the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) on 25 counts in connection with the federal prosecution of a police-involved shooting on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina and an extensive cover-up of those shootings, the Justice Department announced today. The incident resulted in the death of two civilians and the wounding of four others. The defendants will be sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge Kirk Englehardt on Dec. 14, 2011.

Four officers—Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon, and Anthony Villavaso—were convicted in connection with the shootings of multiple victims, two of whom died. The four officers and a supervisor, Arthur “Archie” Kaufman, also were convicted of helping to obstruct justice during the subsequent investigations.

The evidence at trial established that officers Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, and Villavaso opened fire on an unarmed family on the east side of the bridge, killing 17-year-old James Brissette and wounding Susan Bartholomew, 38; Leonard Bartholomew III, 44; the Bartholomew’s daughter, Lesha, 17; and the Bartholomew’s nephew, Jose Holmes, 19. The Bartholomew’s 14-year-old son ran away from the shooting and was fired at, but was not injured.

According to testimony, the second shooting occurred minutes later on the west side of the bridge, where officers shot at brothers Lance and Ronald Madison, killing Ronald, a 40-year-old man with severe mental disabilities.

[link to apocalypsewars.com]