Judge on Danziger Bridge N. Orleans Massacre: "Appalling Perversion," "Savagery," "A Moral Outrage"

[Hissyspit]

Please watch this clip from Lawrence O'Donnell's The Last Word with his heavy commentary regarding Fed. Judge Sarah Vance's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ggWYmrIo2o

VANCE: "It is hard to imagine a more profound breach of public trust than what happened here... Your decency is slow in coming and it came with strings attached. It is hard to find you very sympathetic."

DUers were suspicious and on top of this when this injustice occurred.




James Brissette




Ronald Madison

[hlthe2b]

1. I remember being here on DU with many others monitoring...

what was happening on that bridge. We knew then from the combined reports that were gleaned that local NOLA law enforcement had murdered those people. Finally, some justice after all those years of denial and the MSM cover-up of the whole debacle.

[Hannah Bell]

2. kr

[Luminous Animal]

3. I'm thinking this should have been kept secret.

After all, it is embarrassing for the government.

[malaise]

8. Good spot

:hi:

[guruoo]

4. k&r nt

[jobycom]

5. I can't even remember what I thought about it then.

My family is all from New Orleans, and most live in Gulfport now, so while I was monitoring everything closely, I was focused on finding out if they were alive and then on getting over there to help out as much as I could. I know I was disgusted with some of the police actions and the overall treatment, but I can't remember whether i was suspicious of this one or not. I can't even remember learning about it. It's impressive that so many people were on top of it, and able to go back to it when things had died down. In the chaos after Katrina, it would have been easy to lose this story altogether.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. AQnoher K&R because evil is evil, whatever the nation or authority doing it. (nt)

[ConsAreLiars]

7. Anoher K&R because evil is evil, whatever the nation or authority doing it. (nt)

(edit small typo)

[Solly Mack]

9. K&R

[pacalo]

10. This trial was just the beginning. The former officer convicted yesterday

will be a government witness against the other 6 officers when their trial comes up.

These crimes were covered up with falsely-reported police documents & secrecy within the department. A major break came when a woman police officer connected the dots herself & became an informer. She was afraid for her life.

I was out of state with my family for several weeks after Katrina, then was in a Twilight Zone atmosphere for many months afterward, so it was quite awhile before I had learned about this. But I remember well how I felt back then about police scrutiny of LA citizens. Coming back home, we had to stop at numerous police check points to prove our residency; I remember how some officers reminded me of self-important Barney Fifes in their attitudes. And everywhere we went -- gas stations, grocery store (only a local WalMart was open & we had to get in a long line outside) -- there were National Guardsmen WITH RIFLES watching everyone. It was really a horrible existence, & I can only imagine what it was like for those who weren't able to leave New Orleans for the storm (being uprooted is expensive, let me tell you).

Like I said, this trial was only beginning. More to come.