By Jordan Flaherty, Truthout
Jury selection began June 22 in what observers have called the most
important trial New Orleans has seen in a generation. It concerns a
shocking case of police brutality that has already redefined this city's
relationship to its police department, and radically rewritten the
official narrative of what happened in the chaotic days after Hurricane
Katrina. Five police officers are facing charges of shooting unarmed
African-Americans in cold blood, killing two and wounding four, and then
conspiring to hide evidence. Five officers who participated in the
conspiracy have already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against
their fellow officers.

The shootings occurred on September 4, 2005, as two families were
fleeing Katrina's floodwaters, crossing New Orleans' Danziger Bridge to
get to dry land. Officers, who apparently heard a radio report about
shootings in the area, drove up, leapt out of their vehicle and began
firing. Ronald Madison, a mentally challenged man, was shot in the back
at least six times, then reportedly stomped and kicked by an officer
until he was dead. His brother Lance Madison was arrested on false
charges. James Brissette, a high school student, was shot seven times
and died at the scene. Susan Bartholomew, 38, was wounded so badly her
arm was shot off of her body. Jose Holmes Jr. was shot several times,
then, as he lay bleeding, an officer stood over him and fired point
blank at his stomach. Two other relatives of Bartholomew were also badly
wounded.Danziger is one of at least nine recent incidents involving the New
Orleans Police Department being investigated by the US Justice
Department, several of which took place in the days after the city was
flooded. Officers have recently been convicted by federal prosecutors in
two other high-profile trials. In April, two officers were found guilty
in the beating of death of Raymond Robair, a handyman from the Treme
neighborhood. In December, a jury convicted three officers and acquitted
two in killing Henry Glover, a 31-year-old from New Orleans' West Bank
neighborhood, and burning his body.

From Survivors to Looters

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, people around the world felt
sympathy for New Orleans. They saw images of residents trapped on
rooftops by floodwaters, needing rescue by boat and helicopter. But then
stories began to come out about looters and gangs among the survivors
and the official response shifted from humanitarian aid to military
operation. Then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco sent in National Guard troops,
announcing. "They have M-16s and are locked and loaded. These troops
know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will." Warren Riley -- at
that time the second in charge of the police department -- reportedly
ordered officers to "take the city back and shoot looters."

In the following days, several civilians -- almost all of them
African-American -- were killed under suspicious circumstances in
incidents involving police and white vigilantes. For years, family
members and advocates called for official investigations and were
rebuffed. "Right after the hurricane there were individuals and
organizations trying to talk about what happened on Danziger," says Dana
Kaplan, executive director of Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
(JJPL), a legal and advocacy organization based in New Orleans. "But
their voices were marginalized."

There is evidence that local media could have done a better job. Alex
Brandon, a photographer for New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper, who
later went on to work for Associated Press, testified in the Glover
trial that he knew details about the police killings that he didn't
reveal. "He saw things and heard things that proved to be useful in a
criminal investigation. He didn't report them as news," wrote Picayune
columnist Jarvis DeBerry after the Glover trial concluded.

Former Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who led an
initial investigation of the Danziger officers, believes an indifferent
local media bears partial responsibility for the years of cover-up.
"They were looking for heroes," he says. "They had a cozy relationship
with the police. They got tips from the police; they were in bed with
the police. It was an atmosphere of tolerance for atrocities from the
police. They abdicated their responsibility to be critical in their
reporting. If a few people got killed that was a small price to pay."

Family members and advocates tried to get the stories of police
violence out through protests, press conferences, and other means.
People's Hurricane Relief Fund, an organization dedicated to justice in
reconstruction, held a tribunal in 2006 where they presented accusations
of police violence -- among other charges -- to a panel of international
judges, including members of Parliament from seven countries. Activists
even brought charges to the United Nations, filing a shadow report in
February 2008 with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination in Geneva. But it was not until late 2008 that a
journalist named AC Thompson did what the local media failed to do and
investigated these stories in detail. "It's unfortunate that it took a
national publication to really dig to the root," says Kaplan, referring
to Thompson's work. "In New Orleans, the criminal justice system has
been so corrupt for so long, that things that should be shocking didn't
seem to be raising the kind of broad community outrage that they should
have."

In 2009, after years of pressure from activists and the national
attention brought on by Thompson's reporting, the US Justice Department
decided to look into the accusations of police violence. This has led to
one of the most wide-ranging investigations of a police department in
recent US history. Dozens of officers are facing lengthy prison terms
and corruption charges have reached to the very top of the department.

The Danziger trial is expected to last two months. Kenneth Bowen,
Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon, the officers
involved in the shooting, could receive life sentences if convicted.
Sgt. Arthur Kaufman, who was not on the bridge, is charged only in the
conspiracy and could receive a maximum of 120 years. Justice Department
investigations of other incidents are continuing and it is likely that
some form of federal oversight of the department will be announced in
the coming months.