New Orleans Police Department - Danziger Bridge Shootings

Danziger Bridge Shootings

A deadly police shooting occurred on the Danziger Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. On Sunday, September 4, six days after the hurricane, nineteen-year-old James Brissette and forty-year-old Ronald Madison, both African American, were killed in the gunfire, and four other civilians were wounded. All victims were unarmed. Madison, a mentally disabled man, was shot in the back. New Orleans police coordinated in fabricating a cover-up story for their crime, falsely reporting that seven police officers responded to a police dispatch reporting an officer down, and that at least four people were firing weapons at the officers upon their arrival. The Danziger Bridge Shootings led to several NOPD officers being charged with various crimes including obstruction of justice. On August 5, 2011, five officers were found guilty of all charges. Several others plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for testimony against the other officers.

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