Danziger Bridge Incident

Lance Madison is questioned by police after he and his brother were shot at by multiple N.O.P.D. officers on the Danziger Bridge on September 4, 2005. His younger brother Ronald, who was mentally handicapped, was shot seven times and died as a result of the injuries sustained.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/us/09orleans.html?_r=1&hp

WITNESS ACCOUNTS:

WITNESS TELLS OF 'KILLER COPS' DURING KATRINA SEIGE

DANZIGER BRIDGE JUSTICE?

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE DANZIGER BRIDGE

http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/new_orleans/

SO WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

(Red- Known Facts; Blue- Police Claims; Green- Victim Claims)

1. Two civilians, Ronald Madison and James Barset, were shot and killed by seven N.O.P.D. officers on September 4, 2005.
2. Four other civilians were wounded on this day on the Danziger Bridge by New Orleans Police officers.
3. Police officers claimed to be responding to a call of two officers down.
4. However, this later proved to be incorrect, as there were never two officers down at the scene. In fact, this call was made by a man named David Ryder, who is a private citizen from Opelousas, LA.
5. He was posing as a police officer during the Katrina aftermath. He is the man who identified Lance Madison as a shooter, which was never verified by an actual police officer before they began shooting at him.
6. The police report also alleges that the civilians were shooting at the officers when they arrived, and the officers fired back in self-defense.
7. Lance Madison claims that he and his mentally retarded brother Ronald, who was fatally shot by an officer, were walking across the bridge to escape the flood waters when police began firing at them without ever identifying themselves.
8. The police report claims that an officer saw Lance toss a handgun into the canal.
9. Lance claims that he and his brother were unarmed.
10. The alleged weapon was never recovered. In actuality, none of the victims were ever found to be armed with a weapon of any kind.
11. The police report also alleged that Lance's brother Ronald was shot only once. They claimed he was running towards them and reached for his waist as if to draw a weapon, so they shot him only once to take him down and protect themselves.
12. Two separately performed autopsies refuted this report, finding seven bullet wounds on Ronald's body, five of them in his back.
13. The other victims of the shooting were the Bartholomew family, including 4 teens, who also claimed to be unarmed at the time of the incident.
14. The officers claim the family was hiding behind a concrete barrier and shooting at them.
15. The family claims that they were crossing the Danziger Bridge in search of shelter and supplies since their neighborhood had been completely destroyed in the storm. They also claim that the officers opened fire without giving any warning or identifying themselves.
16. One of the family members was killed, one had her arm completely shot off, and one had four gunshot wounds including two to the abdomen.
17. NO N.O.P.D. OFFICERS WERE HARMED IN EITHER OF THESE INCIDENTS WERE THEY WHERE ALLEGEDLY DEFENDING THEMSELVES, YET THEY MANAGED TO KILL TWO PEOPLE AND INJURE FOUR OTHERS.
18. The officers involved in this case were charged with murder and attempted murder, but their cases were dismissed in 2006.
19. SOURCE: WHAT HAPPENED ON NEW ORLEANS' DANZIGER BRIDGE?