New Orleans police have long held the reputation of one of the nation's most corrupt big-city departments in the country.
The trial of of five officers accused of killing of a man during the panic of Hurricane Katrina will do little to repair the department's public image.
During opening statements this week, prosecutors said police Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann and officer Gregory McRae burned the body of Henry Glover (his aunt Rebecca Glover is pictured above, Glover is pictured below), 31, to destroy evidence in the shooting.
To make matters worse, prosecutors accuse former Lt. Robert Italiano and Lt. Travis McCabe of falsifying a report to make it look as if former officer David Warren was justified in shooting Glover in the days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.
As unbelievable as it seems, McRae's lawyer told the jury that his client was under stress from the storm and made "a very bad decision" to throw a flare in the car burning Glover's body:
"He didn't fathom that he was violating anybody's civil rights," the lawyer said.
So the officer didn't think that burning the body of Glover was a civil rights violation? How could the lawyer say that to a jury with a straight face?
Glover was killed in September 2005, when Warren shot and killed an him at a strip mall. He was unarmed.
The only redeeming voice from New Orleans police came from officer Linda Howard, Warren's partner on the day of the shooting. She testified that Glover was not armed and posed no threat. She even questioned why Warren shot Glover and recalled crying after the shooting.
If convicted, each of these officers should spend their lives in jail. In this case, I believe the officers who falsified reports are as guilty as the officer who pulled the trigger and the officer who burned the body.
They all engineered a conspiracy to treat Henry Glover with less regard than would be shown an animal. If convicted, they all should pay dearly.
04-Nov-10 - Aimee Michael caused a massive car accident in Atlanta, a chain reaction that caused the deaths of five people, including a newborn baby, a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old. She now faces 36 years in prison.
04-Nov-10 - Aimee Michael caused a massive car accident in Atlanta, a chain reaction that caused the deaths of five people, including a newborn baby, a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old. She now faces 36 years in prison.
27-Oct-10 - Christopher White, Abdul Rasuul, and Leroy Johnson allege that they were told they had to buy food when they asked to use the restroom at a Third Avenue McDonald's.
25-Oct-10 - While T.I. reported to jail on November 1, he doesn't have to face additional charges and possible jail time from the arrest in California.
