It looks fairly clear, that at least some of the people were just in
the
wrong place at the wrong time.
Police came to a report of an incident, and shot people who were just
crossing the bridge.
Now, im glad that most of the NOPD decided to stay,
but the problem
with this incident, is that they LIED about it.
These were trying times for everyone including the police, but if you
do something wrong, then, tell the truth,
and let the chips fall where they may.
The LYING seemed to be part of the whole essence of government thinking.
Get away with what you can, and if you get caught, lie about it.
Thats what FEMA did too.
Bush said he would help the Citizens,
but a total of 37 people (as of
Jan 5th 2006) have actually recieved money !@?
Here are the first few reports about this incident.
It seems every report that came out was different.
Trying to cover things up, then when busted, changing the story.
First they were contractors, then they were looters, then something to
do with the Corps of Engineers... None of that was
true.
I also have to REALLY wonder why the Corps of Engineers was originally
in the middle of this,
and now it seems that they have nothing to do with it ???
First, ill post what i read at xymphora.blogspot.com in Dec 2005, they
summed up the different stories.
Then, further below, is the account of what REALLY happened.
=========================================
from
xymphora.blogspot.com/2005/09/danziger-bridge-incidents.html
Associated Press
article on something that happened at Danziger
Bridge in New
Orleans on September 4:
"Police shot and killed at least five people
Sunday after gunmen opened
fire on a group of contractors traveling across a bridge on their way
to make
repairs, authorities said.
Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people
carrying guns,
killing five or six.
Fourteen
contractors were traveling across the Danziger
Bridge
under police escort when they came under fire, said John Hall, a
spokesman for the
Army Corps of Engineers.
They were on
their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to help
plug the
breech in the 17th Street Canal, Hall said.
None of the contractors
was injured, Mike Rogers, a disaster relief
coordinator with
the Army Corps of Engineers, told reporters in Baton Rouge.
The bridge spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the
Mississippi River.
No other details were immediately available."
This is a revision of the first version
(or
here):
"Police
shot eight people carrying guns on a
New Orleans bridge Sunday,
killing five or six, a deputy chief said. A spokesman for the Army
Corps of Engineers
said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal.
The contractors were walking across a bridge on their way to launch
barges into Lake
Pontchartrain to fix the 17th Street Canal, said John Hall, a spokesman
for the
Corps.
Earlier Sunday, New Orleans Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police
shot at eight
people, killing five or six.
The shootings took place on the Danziger
Bridge, which spans a
canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.
No other details were immediately available."
The Associated Press had severe second thoughts
about the first
version:
The latest New Orleans-datelined
urgent series Hurricane
Katrina-Shootings has been KILLED. The Army Corps of Engineers says the
contractors
were shot at, then police fatally shot the gunmen who'd fired on the
contractors. The
contractors were NOT killed.
A kill is mandatory. Make
certain the story is not broadcast.A sub will
be filed
shortly.AP Broadcast News Center - Washington"
The
difference between the two AP stories
is that
one story has the police
shooting and killing armed contractors, while the later story has them
shooting and
killing people who were shooting on armed contractors. A fairly
significant
change.
Reuters has what appears to be an even
later
version (or
here) of the story:
"New
Orleans police killed four looterswho
had opened fire on them on
Sunday as rescue teams scoured homes and toxic waters flooding streets
to find
survivors and recover thousands of bloated corpses.
A fifth looter
was in critical condition but no more details were
available about the
incident in a city where authorities are slowly regaining control after
a wave of
looting, murders and rapes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
'Five men who were looting exchanged gunfire with police. The officers
engaged the
looters when they were fired upon,' said New Orleans superintendent of
police, Steven
Nichols.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors working on a levee breach were
fired on by
gunmen but no one was hurt, said the Corps' Mike Rogers. It was not
clear if the two
incidents were connected."
So now it appears there were two incidents, one where U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers
contractors were fired upon but no one was hurt, and one with no
contractors, where
police killed looters who were firing at them. The incident appears to
have been reported
on
Australian television, together with the sound of live gunfire.
Quite the story. It made a considerable impression on various
right-wing bloggers,
who felt it showed how these dangerous black looters were so evil that
they were
preventing repair of the levees in order to keep the city flooded so
they could
continue looting. When you think about it, that theory seems to give
the looters a
degree of planning and organization which is not credible. It makes
more sense that
the police would get into a gunfight with looters, or even use the
excuse of looters
to explain why they killed a lot of people, but how then did the AP
get the
whole story so wrong - twice! - by adding the contractors to the mix?
It was a big day at Danziger Bridge.
Later in the day a
helicopter crashed there. From USA
Today (or here):
". . . in the evening, a civilian helicopter
crashed near the Danziger Bridge,
but the two people on board escaped with only cuts and
scrapes, according to Mark Smith of the state office of emergency
preparedness."
"On Sunday, a helicopter that had been
involved in rescue operations
crashed northwest of New Orleans.
No evacuees were on board the Eurocopter AS 332 Super Puma and the
pilot and crew
were rescued safely, according to an official with Helinet Aviation
Services, which
had a chopper flying above the crash site."
"A civilian helicopter that was not involved
in rescue operations
crashed in New Orleans on Sunday and the two people on board were
slightly injured, a
state official said.
The helicopter crashed in the area of the Danziger
Bridge, said
Mark Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and
Emergency
Preparedness.
'The helicopter came down hard and rolled over on its side and broke
its blades off
and broke its tail off,' Smith told reporters in Baton Rouge.
'There were two civilians on the helicopter. Both sustained cuts and
scrapes,' he
said.
It was not known why the helicopter was in the area, Smith said.
The US military and Coast Guard have conducted hundreds of helicopter
flights in the
New Orleans area in recent days searching for Hurricane Katrina
survivors and have
rescued thousands of storm victims.
Early media reports said the crashed aircraft was a Coast Guard
helicopter.
Live television footage from the scene showed the red helicopter lying
on the ground
near a roadway, with smoke drifting from its cockpit. The ground around
the wreck was
blackened and churned up by the aircraft's rotor blades.
Smith said he did not know if shots had been fired at the helicopter.
Gunfire has
been reported on numerous occasion in the New Orleans area in recent
days.
'It could have been mechanical failure,' he said."
So now a coast guard helicopter has morphed into a civilian helicopter,
which is
showing a peculiar fascination with the Danziger
Bridge. This
mysterious helicopter was also
described as a 'rescue helicopter' and a 'Coast Guard Super
Puma helicopter":
"A rescue helicopter has crashed in New
Orleans, US television networks
say.
The two crew members from the Coast Guard Super Puma helicopter were
safe, MSNBC
said.
Live television footage from the scene showed the red helicopter lying
on the ground
near a roadway, with smoke drifting from its cockpit. The ground around
the wreck was
blackened and churned up by the aircraft's rotor blades."
This is an awfully specific description to be wrong. On the other hand,
the Coast
Guard doesn't appear to use the Super Puma, but rather another
Aerospatiale product
called the Dolphin.
Of course,
the Coast Guard might have contracted with somebody with a Super Puma,
so you never
know. You have to wonder why a rescue helicopter was flying around the Danziger Bridge, not a residential area
where there would be somebody in
need of rescue, and on all accounts a dry enough area for quite a bit
to be going
on.
"For certain, the Danzinger Bridge is
nowhere near the breaches nor
should the industrial area be a magnet for looters looking for
television sets."
and:
"The implication is that something is
occuring on and near the Danziger Bridge
which is both extraordinary and alarming. A simple
mind says the helicopter was a news aircraft gone out to follow up on
the shooting
and was forcefully not permitted to photograph. A dull person could
think that 3:00
pm in the afternoon is an odd hour to be on foot in the hot Gulf sun
and rather late
in the day to be getting around to starting repairs on breached levees.
A
disinterested so-and-so might wonder about the police escort after
having heard press
accounts of the reduction of New Orleans police to skeleton crew on the
point of
exhaustion."
I would add that it is an odd way to make repairs in a breech in the
17th Street
Canal by launching barges into Lake Pontchartrain.
My best guess is that the police killed some people and used
the Army contractor
story to cover it up. The victims are unlikely to have been looters,
but may have
used guns in self-defense. The police story inadvertently disclosed
that people
working for the army were up to some mysterious job, a job that was
supposed to be a
secret. The helicopter went to take a look at what was going on, and
was shot down.
Discrepancies in the official story are starting to lead to
theoriesthat
at least some levees and floodwalls were intentionally destroyed,
theories that gain
some credence in that even the experts are
baffled at what happened to the floodwalls. Its a bit too
convenient that storm
surge gauges stopped functioning during a . . . storm surge, thus
removing
inconvenient questions about how a nine foot storm surge went over a
wall designed to
stop an 11.5 foot storm surge.
11/24/05
"Los Angeles Times"
But before 9 a.m., the police reported snipers shooting from the
bridge. Initial accounts given to the media by Deputy Police Chief W.J.
Riley had the targets as
14 civilian contractors, part of a convoy that drove to
the area to help with storm repairs.
But in a measure of the confusion and poor communication that
prevailed, another police official gave a different account.
"Five men who were
looting exchanged gunfire with police. The officers
engaged the looters when they were fired upon," killing four, said
Steven Nichols, the police official, according to the Reuters news
agency.
At the time we heard about lawless mobs shooting at rescue helicopters
on the Danziger bridge.
Then the description of the Danziger bridge
“gunfight” dialed back a bit. These
“rioters”, although charged with attempted murder,
were cleared by a grand jury. More
at hotair.com
Tuesday, May 23,
2006; Posted:
11:03 a.m. EDT (15:03 GMT)
Ronald
Madison was shot in the back by New Orleans police after Hurricane
Katrina,
autopsy records show.
NEW ORLEANS,
Louisiana (CNN)
-- Autopsy results obtained by CNN show a mentally disabled man was
shot in the back when he was killed by New Orleans police in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
This contradicts testimony by a police sergeant
that the
victim had turned toward officers and was reaching into his waistband
when shot.
"Clearly he was shot from behind," said famed New York
pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who examined the body for the family's
lawyer
Madison's older brother, Lance, said he and Ronald were
walking across
the Danziger bridge toward another brother's dental office when
teen-agers ran up behind him and opened fire that Sunday morning.
By his account, he and Ronald were running away toward the crest of the
bridge when a police team, responding to the report of gunshots,
arrived in a rental truck and opened fire on people on the bridge.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley told CNN, "Several of the people
were shot and two were killed by our officers in a running gun
battle... Most police shoot-outs last somewhere between six and twelve
seconds, and it's over with. This was a running gun battle that went on
several minutes."
One teen-ager, still unidentified, was killed near the base of the
bridge. Another was critically wounded. Three other people with them
were also shot and were hospitalized.
Lance Madison said a policeman pointed a rifle at Ronald and shot him
as the two of them were running up the bridge. Lance said he helped
carry his wounded brother to a motel on the other side of the canal and
left him there as Lance kept running to seek help.
The Police Department said in a press release last fall that Ronald
Madison, whom it called a second unidentified gunman, "was confronted
by a New Orleans Police Officer. The suspect reached into his waist and
turned toward the officer who fired one shot fatally wounding him." http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/22/katrina.shotinback/index.html
Police Accounts Disputed
The New Orleans Police Department's official
account of the
events
on the Danziger Bridge, Sept. 4, 2005, says Ronald Madison, the
"unidentified gunman," received one gunshot wound before dying, but
autopsy reports (below) show he was shot seven times.
Further fact-checking also revealed that two officers were never down
at the scene, the cause of the original call, and that the main
complainant David Ryder, identified as a St. Landry Parish deputy
sheriff, was in fact a private citizen helping with post-Katrina
rescues.
I have to wonder WHY i am looking at news from the BBC for this
shooting, when i live in New Orleans ?
US police in the hurricane-stricken city of New Orleans have shot eight
people, reportedly killing five, as a massive rescue effort continues. Monday,
5 September 2005
The incident occurred when contractors escorted
by officers
were fired at.
Sunday's shooting took place while 14
contractors were crossing the Danziger Bridge under police
escort, New Orleans Deputy Police Chief WJ Riley said.
He said the contractors came under fire from
gunmen and police
officers shot back, killing at least five of them.
None
of the
contractors were killed.
In
a separate
incident, a helicopter with
two civilians on board crashed
in the city.
The two people on board, who are said not to
have been
involved in the rescue
operation, got away with minor injuries
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4214232.stm
===================================
December
18, 2005
The most controversial shooting took place on
the Danziger
Bridge in eastern New Orleans on Sept.
4. When it was broadcast over the police radio, a cheer erupted among
commanders who were huddled miles away at "headquarters,"
the valet parking apron at Harrah's New Orleans Casino. When asked what
the celebration was about, one captain answered, "We
got six of them. None of our guys hurt."
Police said 7th District officers came under
fire when they
responded to a report of "officers down" in an area where contractors
had been fired upon earlier. After the smoke cleared, it
turned out that no officers were wounded. Killed, however, was an
unarmed 40-year-old mentally disabled man, Ronald Madison, shot multiple times in
the back, Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said. Also
killed was a 19-year-old man, who has not been identified. Police say
the 19-year-old victim was armed, but that has been disputed by several
witnesses. Madison's brother, Lance Madison, 49, has been booked with
eight counts of attempted murder. A second suspect, Jose Holmes, Jr.,
19, remains under investigation.
"Danziger Bridge is going to take on a life of
its own," said
Capt. Bob Bardy, commander of the 7th District. "But that broadcast for
help was from another officer who actually witnessed contract workers
being shot at. And the broadcasts are public record. . . . When this
comes out, I think you'll see that they are engaged in a gunfight with
these people."
Bardy said the loss of life was distressing, but
at no point
did he think that his officers did anything wrong. "Two people died,
and it's unfortunate," Bardy said, "but unfortunate circumstances are
part of the job."
And
if you think some people didnt outright LIE to save thier image.
THIS story (snip below) is pretty damn
suspicious to me as
well. FEMA had taken down the antenna for emergency personel. They did
this without bothering to tell anyone either. There was only enough
room for one antenna (or was there?), so they took down the antenna,
and put up their own. Gotta wonder iWHY they didnt bother to mention
this to anyone ? So, is THIS story the coverup for it ?
Sunday,
December 18, 2005
Similar rescues of officers were being launched all over the city when,
without warning, police
communications all but shut down. A small piece of flying
debris disabled the department's radio tower atop the 44-story Entergy
Tower, forcing all the area's law enforcement agencies to use a single
"mutual aid" band. The results were cacophonous at best, Riley said.
