Police Investigator pleading guilty to encouraging cover-up in Katrina shooting
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bornnraisedoffCMR
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Police investigator encouraged cover-up, knew officer planted gun while still on Danziger Bridge
By Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune
February 24, 2010, 11:06AM
Lt. Michael Lohman, a supervisor who led the detective unit that first investigated the shooting of six people on the Danziger Bridge after Hurricane Katrina, has been charged with one count of obstruction of justice in a bill of information that was unsealed today. He is expected to plead guilty in a court hearing early this afternoon, after which U.S. Attorney Jim Letten has scheduled a press conference.
michael lohman.JPGMichael LohmanThe document states that Lohman was assigned to investigate the case while on the bridge on Sept. 4, and learned at that point that the officers involved planned to lie about the shooting. He also admits knowing that another officer planted a gun at the scene.
Lohman "also talked to some of the officers and sergeants involved in the shooting and learned that they planned to provide false stories about what had precipitated the shooting."
Lohman also "tacitly encouraged them to do so."
From that day through at least May 2009, the document states, Lohman conspired and agreed with other NOPD officers and supervisors to knowingly falsify a document with the intent to impede, obstruct and influence the investigation, to engage in misleading conduct, and to willfully make false statements and representations within the jurisdiction of the FBI.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/02/police_investigator_encouraged.html
SMFH!!
NOPD was running wild during Katrina. ? them ? !!
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oh yeah ? ...
thacorner.net got hacked so please take 3 minutes out of your precious time to LoL @ them
-? Bless -
To refresh you memory of what happend...What Happened on New Orleans' Danziger Bridge?
by John Burnett
Three federal civil-rights lawsuits charge that a group of New Orleans police officers gunned down unarmed, innocent citizens in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina.
The lawsuits focus on an incident that happened on a bridge in east New Orleans. Two people were killed, including a mentally ? man shot in the back; two others were maimed.
The police say they were firing in self-defense. Now, a grand jury has begun looking into the shooting.
It's come to be known as the Danziger Bridge incident.
At 9 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4, six days after Katrina, police received a Signal 108: Two officers down, under the concrete lift bridge that spans the Industrial Canal.
Seven officers rushed to the scene.
Police say when they arrived, at least four people were shooting at them from the base of the bridge. Officers took positions and returned fire. The official police report identifies two sets of gunmen going up the east side of the half-mile-long bridge.
The investigation hinges on whether these people were the shooters, as the police maintain, or whether they were innocent civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time, as the lawsuits claim.
'I Didn't Do Anything Wrong'
One of the suspects, Lance Madison, has been arrested and charged with eight counts of attempted murder against police officers.
"I didn't do anything wrong, and I had no reason to be arrested. I was up here trying to seek help for me and my little brother, trying to evacuate from the devastation going on down here," says Madison, a 49-year-old former college wide receiver, standing at the foot of the bridge where the incident occurred.
Police say Madison and another perpetrator were firing at officers as they ran up the bridge.
Madison, a 25-year employee of Federal Express, has no criminal record and is a member of a respected New Orleans family.
The man he was with -- referred to by the police as "the unidentified gunman" -- was his brother, 40-year-old Ronald, who had mental retardation. His family describes him as a childlike soul who loved the family's two dachshunds and watched Three Stooges videos.
From One Tragedy to Another
Lance says that on that Sunday morning, he and Ronald -- their homes flooded -- were crossing the bridge on their way to another brother's dental office where they were staying after the storm.
Lance says there was a group of teenagers near the bridge shooting at people. He says that when the police arrived, they never identified themselves before opening fire.
"And we just kept running up the bridge, and that's when I noticed one of the guy's jumped out of the truck had a rifle pointing towards me and my little brother, and shot my brother in the right shoulder," Madison says.
Police say an officer saw Lance toss a handgun into the canal. Lance says neither he nor Ronald was armed.
The police report says that when the pair reached the other side of the bridge, an officer approached Ronald. At that point, the report continues, Ronald reached toward his waist and turned toward the officer, who shot him dead with one bullet.
Autopsy findings refute the police assertion. The pathologist found that Ronald Madison had seven gunshot wounds -- five of them in his back.
"He was like the sunshine of our family. We really miss him. It's just unbelievable what happened. And I hope nobody has to go through what we've been through," Madison says.
But the second group on the Danziger Bridge that morning went through a similar ordeal.
Another Family's Ordeal
According to the police account, six other individuals ran up the bridge, jumped behind a low concrete barrier onto a walkway, and fired at officers.
Police say that group was the Bartholomew family: Leonard Sr., a longtime employee of the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board; his wife, Susan; their teenage son and daughter; their nephew; and his friend.
The family contends that they were unarmed, and that they had been stranded by the storm and were walking to a Winn-Dixie supermarket for supplies.
"I never thought I'd be shot. And I never thought I'd be shot by the police. I thought the police were there to protect," says Susan Bartholomew, speaking publicly about the incident for the first time.
Her statement echoes Lance Madison's -- that officers opened fire without warning. Five out of six people in her group were hit. Terrified, Bartholomew says, they took cover behind the concrete barrier on the side of the bridge.
"When I look, we're all on the ground and all you can see is blood. Everywhere. You can hear everybody hollering, moaning, everybody been shot and in pain," Bartholomew says.
"My right arm was on the ground lying next to me," she recalls. "The only thing that was attached to it was a piece of skin. It had been shot off."
The interview with Bartholomew took place in a Texas city she asked not be named, because she fears retaliation. The slight woman, who wore a crucifix around her neck, had a gray sweater draped over the stump of her right arm.
She says that after the gunfire, officers ran onto the bridge, pointed weapons at them, and told them not to look up. But she says she clearly saw blue shirts emblazoned with "NOPD."
Bartholomew's basic account was confirmed by her nephew, Jose Holmes, a 19-year-old high school dropout who works at McDonald's. His police record shows two minor, noncriminal charges.
Holmes says a bullet struck him in the right arm, shattering his bone. As he cowered behind the low concrete wall, he says a police officer walked over to him.
"He leaned over the cement block, he put the rifle to my stomach and shot me twice. They left, and about a minute later, an ambulance came and picked us up," Holmes says in an interview at a house in Atlanta, where he's staying temporarily.
Hospital and paramedic records confirm that Holmes had four gunshot wounds, including two to his abdomen. He now wears a colostomy bag and has limited use of his right hand.
Police say they shot and killed another member of that group. The Bartholomew family says it was Holmes' friend, James Barset, a 19-year-old high school senior from New Orleans' Ninth Ward.
"I'm sure if they got any kind of a heart, that they realize that what they did was wrong. And it's something they can't call back. And lives are changed as a result. My arm is missing, and I have to live with this, and I can't help but see it every day," Bartholomew says.
"Only thing I can do is try to forgive these people and move on. And that's what I've been trying to do," she says.
Families Dispute Police Reports
Fact-checking the police report reveals that critical information is wrong:
-- First, there were never two officers down at the scene, the cause of the original call.
-- Second, the main complainant is a man named David Ryder who was posing that day as a St. Landry Parish deputy sheriff. He is the person who identified Lance Madison as a shooter. But Ryder isn't an officer; he's a private citizen from Opelousas, La., who drove to New Orleans after Katrina to help out with rescues.
-- Finally, records show that Ronald Madison, who was mentally ? since birth, was shot seven times, not once, as the police say.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley, through his spokesman, declined repeated requests for an interview. His office referred questions to the Orleans Parish District Attorney, which is investigating the incident.
"Anytime there's a shooting involving law-enforcement officials actually involving a death in this instance, it's something that's very serious, and we want to determine if there is any criminal conduct involved," says District Attorney Eddie Jordan.
Police, 'Overwhelmed' by Katrina, Under Investigation
The Danziger Bridge incident needs to be understood in the context of a major American city that had disintegrated.
"The New Orleans Police Department was overwhelmed," says Anthony Radosti, vice president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission and a former 23-year veteran investigator with the New Orleans police.
"Radio communication was at a minimum. [The police] felt isolated, abandoned. They had no place to live or sleep. Rumors were just wild. Sniper fire, armed individuals on the street. And in some cases, that information was true," Radosti says.
An Arkansas paramedic who rode to the Danziger Bridge with police that morning told NPR that officers were involved in a five-minute gunbattle. He heard people shooting back, but he says he was hiding and he couldn't see who they were.
Radosti sympathizes with embattled officers who were trying to take back their city -- up to a point.
"But aggressive law enforcement has to come with common sense. If the officers there acted with good faith, the grand jury is going to exonerate them. But if the officers acted in bad faith, playing cowboys, that has to be seriously looked at," he says.
The district attorney has not indicated whether he will prosecute Lance Madison. Jose Holmes was never arrested, even though police said he was a shooter.
Meanwhile, attorneys for Madison, Holmes and the Bartholomew family last month filed federal civil-rights lawsuits against the city regarding the Danziger Bridge incident. -
? LOLOLOL"I never thought I'd be shot. And I never thought I'd be shot by the police. I thought the police were there to protect," says Susan Bartholomew, speaking publicly about the incident for the first time.
Anyway at this point it's really all about what we're going to do about it. And if the answer is nothing then the fact that it's happening is void. Cuz the pig will get off like they all do. -
New Orleans' Finest
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BRiCKSQUAD wrote: »
thacorner.net got hacked so please take 3 minutes out of your precious time to LoL @ them
That board was wick wick wack. -
Crazy part about it, this ? goes well beyond race.
Some of the cops that took part in this were black.
The police Chief who I am sure took part in the cover up but we will never know, and stood by these pieces of ? every step of the way...was black.
The Mayor was black.
And the DA the flubbed the case up the first time, was black.
Now, the U.S. Attorney who has been investigating this case when it was all but dead in the public eye.....is WHITE. And get this, he was appointed by none other the George ? ? Walker Bush. Who would thought? -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »Crazy part about it, this ? goes well beyond race.
Some of the cops that took part in this were black.
The police Chief who I am sure took part in the cover up but we will never know, and stood by these pieces of ? every step of the way...was black.
The Mayor was black.
And the DA the flubbed the case up the first time, was black.
Now, the U.S. Attorney who has been investigating this case when it was all but dead in the public eye.....is WHITE. And get this, he was appointed by none other the George ? ? Walker Bush. Who would thought?
All rude bwoy lissen up
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bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »Crazy part about it, this ? goes well beyond race.
Some of the cops that took part in this were black.
The police Chief who I am sure took part in the cover up but we will never know, and stood by these pieces of ? every step of the way...was black.
The Mayor was black.
And the DA the flubbed the case up the first time, was black.
Now, the U.S. Attorney who has been investigating this case when it was all but dead in the public eye.....is WHITE. And get this, he was appointed by none other the George ? ? Walker Bush. Who would thought?
On the pig's part it goes beyond race. But funny how the victims are the same (brown) color 95% of the time. Never any crackers getting shot in the back by pigs although they commit more crimes because there are more of them in the country.
So race is the main force here. MOst of the blood comes out of brown bodies. -
DarcSkies777 wrote: »On the pig's part it goes beyond race. But funny how the victims are the same (brown) color 95% of the time. Never any crackers getting shot in the back by pigs although they commit more crimes because there are more of them in the country.
So race is the main force here. MOst of the blood comes out of brown bodies.
Yeah, that is true.
I think this speaks to the fact the black and brown people viewed as "worth - less" -
Either way I'm sure the pigs will get off scott free as usual.
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DarcSkies777 wrote: »Never any crackers getting shot in the back by pigs
crackers are either survivalists in the woods armed to the teeth or they have regular jobs and dont slang on the block like blacks stay doing -
Update:While on the Danziger bridge on Sept. 4, Lohman concluded that the shootings were not legally justified. He then assigned Sgt. Arthur Kaufman, who is described but not named in the bill of information, to investigate the case.
The investigating officer, who is Kaufman, told Lohman that he planned to place a gun under the bridge, and Lohman "asked whether the investigator knew that the gun was 'clean,' meaning it could not be traced back to another crime." The investigator said it was, and "Lohman went along with the plan," the bill of information says.
In addition, Lohman signed off on a report that said the investigator found the gun under the bridge on Sept. 5, the bill of information says. In fact, the document says, Lohman was so "frustrated" with the implausibility of the initial report that he "personally drafted" a 17-page replacement that included "numerous false facts."
Six people were shot on the eastern New Orleans bridge on the morning of Sept. 4, 2005. Two men died, including one who was mentally challenged, while four others suffered serious wounds.
From just after the shooting, New Orleans police officials portrayed the incident as a gun battle between armed citizens and police officers. But the surviving victims told a very different story, saying they were not armed and were attacked by the officers, some who were carrying not only their .40 caliber handguns but personal weapons, including a shot gun and two AK-47s.
The fact that prosecutors have charged Lohman by bill of information -- which outlines the allegations against him in 11 pages -- is a strong indicator that he has signed a plea agreement and is cooperating with the federal government. Prosecutors can charge a defendant with a bill of information only when a defendant waives his right to a grand jury indictment.
The document was entered into the court record, under seal, on Feb. 3.
The document states that Lohman also suggested to two sergeants and the investigating officer "that they go back to the bridge to get rid of some of the shell casings" left behind by the officers.
The bill of information does not identify the sergeants or the investigator, but attorneys for two officers -- Sgt. Robert Gisevius and Kaufman -- have acknowledged their clients have received target letters in the federal probe. Gisevius fired his weapon several times at the scene and Kaufman performed the initial investigation.
The document goes on to say that through May 2009, Lohman conspired and agreed with other NOPD officers and supervisors to knowingly falsify a document with the intent to impede, obstruct and influence the investigation, to engage in misleading conduct, and to willfully make false statements and representations within the jurisdiction of the FBI.
Lohman, an NOPD supervisor, retired from the New Orleans Police Department on Feb. 1. His plea deal is the first indication that anyone with the NOPD is cooperating with federal investigators looking at a slew of post-Katrina police shooting incidents.
He appeared at 2 p.m. before Magistrate Judge Louis Moore, where he pleaded innocent. Lohman will then walk to U.S. Judge Ivan Lemelle's courtroom where he is expected to change his plea to guilty on the obstruction charge.
The Danziger Bridge shooting is probably the most publicly known post-Katrina police shooting, as prosecutors with the Orleans Parish district attorney's office led a grand jury investigation into the matter in 2006. Those grand jury proceedings resulted in indictments in Dec. 2006, charging the seven officers involved in the shooting with various murder and attempted murder charges. The federal probe has expanded beyond the shootings themselves, looking at the NOPD's investigation of their officers' actions.
Federal investigators are also looking into other officer-involved shootings committed in the week after Katrina devastated the city.
The seven police officers who arrived at the bridge -- transported by a Budget rental truck -- were responding to a radio call that two officers were in danger. An attorney for Gisevius, one of the officers who responded, noted that this kind of distress signal is a "high-risk" call to respond to.
"It raises your adrenaline, it automatically puts you in fear for your life," said Eric Hessler, Gisevius' attorney in an interview last week. "And when you are responding to that call in the midst of Katrina, when all kinds of misinformation is being given out, you are certainly going to be in a heightened state."
Lohman was the supervisor of Kaufman, a detective in the 7th District who conducted the initial probe. Kaufman, through an attorney, has acknowledged receiving a letter stating that he is a target of the investigation. He maintains his innocence.
Lohman signed off on the initial incident report written by Kaufman. Kaufman later teamed up with Sgt. Gerard Dugue, a "major case" detective who traditionally handled officer-involved shooting incidents, to write the supplemental investigation, which deemed the shooting justified.
That police report, obtained by The Times-Picayune, has been criticized by attorneys for the victims for relying almost entirely on the testimony of the involved officers. The report states that Lohman arrived at the scene at some point, but does not describe his involvement.
This ? is crazy. It's what all of us KNOW what goes on but it's pretty stunning to see it finally coming to light. I hope the FEDs look at some of the other cop killings that happened during the aftermath of Katrina -
BRiCKSQUAD wrote: »oh yeah ? ...
thacorner.net got hacked so please take 3 minutes out of your precious time to LoL @ them
-? Bless
CHILL, I don't want to come back tomorrow and find out that I have to sign up again for the 13th time. The hackers are watching! -
This is case => New Orleans
as
Abu Ghraib => Iraq -
usually the police just trap them in a building somewhere out of the way and then crush it with a tank or somethingDarcSkies777 wrote: »Never any crackers getting shot in the back by pigs -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »Update:
This ? is crazy. It's what all of us KNOW what goes on but it's pretty stunning to see it finally coming to light. I hope the FEDs look at some of the other cop killings that happened during the aftermath of Katrina
C'mon brah.... -
usually the police just trap them in a building somewhere out of the way and then crush it with a tank or something
Rare occurrence and usually done by the FEDs because of a perceived threat to the government. -
Corruption is nothing new and their is plenty of evidence that NOPD abused their power during the aftermath of Katrina
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C'mon brah....
What? It's the Feds that are executing this case right here. Obviously Im no big fan of the FED's but hey, if they can break down the NOPD they just got a new fan. -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »What? It's the Feds that are executing this case right here. Obviously Im no big fan of the FED's but hey, if they can break down the NOPD they just got a new fan.
I agree with you with the sentiment, let's just keep it real....the Feds aren't really in the place to preach morals to any other branch of law enforcement.
Don't get me wrong, I would love it if they could fix the problems...but I'm old enough to know better too.... -
BOSS KTULU wrote: »crackers are either survivalists in the woods armed to the teeth
That sure didn't help the guy at Ruby Ridge. ATF sniper blew his wife's face off while she was holding her baby and making eggs in the kitchen.BOSS KTULU wrote: »or they have regular jobs and dont slang on the block like blacks stay doing
*screwed n chopped voice* ? lab cookin, m-m-? lab cookin up. ? lab cookin, m-m-? lab cookin up. *beat drops* -
well, of course it's more rare; all that tank fuel is expensive, so you can't just crush dudes with them left and rightDarcSkies777 wrote: »Rare occurrence and usually done by the FEDs because of a perceived threat to the government. -
For some reason I pictured New Orleans cops rolling around the city in their police cars blasting Trick Daddy while holding their AK-47s... lmao
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For some reason I pictured New Orleans cops rolling around the city in their police cars blasting Trick Daddy while holding their AK-47s... lmao
Man u read that article. Them ? pulled up in Mail trucks and Uhauls, hopin out with white tees holdin AK's and Shotties!!! WTF? Im tellin yall, the NOPD be on some other ? . -
"nopd be rollin' rollin so deep, dey be ? ' ova ? , kickin' in does sometimes dey be pullin' triggas."- Turk
"I'ma tell ya now, they don't give a damn about ya, End up in that place and toy around and be forgotten. They rotten like a whole apple off a forbidden tree, On Tuesdays and Thursdays you won't find me"- lil wayne
"Who do you think be pushin' them birds up in the hood? Who do you think be dumpin' them bodies up in the wood?"-Juvenile
Hotboys "Tuesadays & Thursadays," real New Orleans been talkin' bout this ? fo years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro08bILEvqc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETjpQNs4N7Y
