Gretna: Tragedy meets callousness

[Xargos]

Since I work in law enforcement I would be charged with "Deliberate Indiffence" if I was to turn my back on someone who was in physical harm, at least that's the way it is in South Carolina.  I wonder if the police in Gretna can be charged with the same thing.

[BTW]

>>Not just taken away, but those people were prevented from escaping to a place that HAD enough water to prevent them from dying.

<<

You keep stating that but its simply not true. The people were placed on buses and transported to shelters. Only you know your agenda behind posting this lie. You honestly think Any policeman would turn away a dehydrated child?? I am really starting to resent you stereotyping New Orleaneans.

[Chairboy]

Only you know your agenda behind posting this lie.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, I hold police in the highest regard.  Do you mind filling me in on my agenda so I can act appropriately?

What part of THE POLICE CHIEF himself stating that he CLOSED THE BRIDGE to pedestrian traffic and TURNED PEOPLE AWAY?

What exactly is your agenda in contradicting the very statements of the Gretna police chief himself?  Is he part of some conspiracy to defame himself and his own officers?  Because he stated that he gave the orders to turn people back, and there are hundreds of eye-witnesses that state that's exactly what happened, and that there were no buses.

[BTW]

Your statement is a lie. There were buses and the pedestrians were moved to shelters. You are looking for a race story and there isn't a race story so you are making one up. I resent it. Why don't you go pick on people who aren't cleaning up from a catastrophe. Your bleeding heart is evident from your propensity to kick people who are down. I am moved by you kindness.

[Chairboy]

?!?!

I know that there were buses, and pedestrians were moved to shelter, but I'm talking about the Gretna bridge incident where the police fired over the heads of pedestrians trying to leave New Orleans.

[BTW]

And that incident was distorted by CNN and had to do with the apprehension of a criminal. There was ONE shot fired in the air when a crowd became unruly when a criminal was being handcuffed.  There are key eye witnesses to this event and it has already been substantiated. In case you don't know, the FBI is all over New Orleans as well the ATF. People have their hands full right now and cant afford to spend time deflecting CNN hatchet jobs from gutless cowards who hide behind victims to further their malicious agenda. I just find it interesting that CNN failed to mention the New Orleans policeman who was shot in the head in events that led to the distorted event you mentioned.

[Chairboy]

The incident you're talking about is not the same as the one I'm referring to.  THAT appears to be the basis of your misunderstanding, you're thinking of something else.

Seattle Times:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002498314_bridge16.html
So they consulted a police commander posted near Harrah's Casino on Canal Street. "He told us he had a solution: We should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge," Slonsky and Bradshaw wrote. Buses would be stationed on the other side, the commander said.

They headed for the bridge, about 200 people, nearly all of them African American, according to Slonsky. As they approached the structure, Slonsky and Bradshaw reported, they were met with a police barricade and the sound of bullets whizzing overhead. Dozens began to peel away and scatter. Slonsky and Bradshaw wrote that they and a few others managed to approach the police line. They were told there were no buses.

"We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the six-lane highway," Slonsky and Bradshaw wrote. "They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans, and there would be no Superdomes in their city. These were code words for: If you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River, and you are not getting out of New Orleans." Bradshaw reports that there were about a dozen cops guarding the bridge, and only one of them was black.

The LA Times wrote: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gretna16sep16,0,728170.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"I realized we couldn't continue, manpower-wise, fuel-wise," Lawson said Thursday. Armed Gretna police, helped by local sheriff's deputies and bridge police, turned hundreds of men, women and children back to New Orleans.

MSNBC wrote: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9324538/
And they allowed us to approach.  And Larry explained that we were told to come across the bridge, so that we could get on these buses.  And we were turned back.  We were told we absolutely could not come on to the bridge, that the deputy had told us, we are not going to have another New Orleans, and we're not going to have another Superdome on the other side of the bridge, which is Gretna.  

So, pretty discouraged, we did turn around and started to go back down, where we discovered an embankment area on I think it is called the Pontchartrain Expressway.  And we a group of about 50, 60 70 people, found an area that was protected.  It was concrete this way and this way.  And we made ourselves inside of it.  

It might not have been racism, but it certainly was callous disregard for human life.  And it's obvious that you have no clue what I'm talking about and are referring to some other incident where someone was arrested, and there were buses and so on.  

If we're going to argue, at the very least, please know what we're arguing about!  Anything else just won't work.

[Pooh21]

Oh horrid day, the code words for poor and black!

[BTW]

I have no regard for the gutless stories you post. First off NO CHILDREN were turned away or left to fend for themselves and IDEFY you to prove otherwise. The reporter is a friggin liar. I do have the utmost contempt for anyone who would find fault with the heroic actions of police officers following Katrina. The conditions were so awful and communications so lacking, TWO committed suicide. Numerous officers just left - disappeared. And you find stories to  nitpick the actions of the brave police officers that maintained their post to protect human life? Firefighters were fired upon while responding to fires by marauding gangs, and rescue operations were suspended after helicopters were fired upon. And you nitpick the actions of a few police officers trying to maintain their post. The 1st District police station in New Orleans was attacked. An you site stories from gutless reporters looking for a race angle. You need to pull your head out of your arse and come down here and look.

There is no race angle. There are hundreds of miles of devastation. But why bother being part of the crowd reporting that devastation or helping when you can be unique and take pot shots at officers too busy to respond? Seems to me, that's the same mentality of the looters. Seems to be cut from the same mold.

You should be so ashamed of your actions, but I am confident you are gleeful.

[BTW]

>>And it's obvious that you have no clue what I'm talking about and are referring to some other incident where someone was arrested, and there were buses and so on.

<<

Or perhaps your news outlets have it WRONG. NBC news tells me I'm returning to Algiers Monday to ground covered in muck and no power. There is no muck in Algiers - it didn't flood. At least 30% of Algiers has been back for a week and power restoration is 95%. So much for intelligent reporters eh? Your stories seem to be based on one or two accounts with people who could gain much by giving a distorted account.

There is a significant FBI presence looking over the local police districts and tracking known criminals that may be in shelters or the relief system.

There is a significant ATF presence as many guns were looted in the hours after Katrina, and the ATF is looking for these guns.

But you keep reading the stories kicking around the first responders.

The good news is New Orleans is the safest it has been in 30 years. There is virtually NO crime in New Orleans today.