A jury convicted five current or former New Orleans police officers of civil rights violations in connection to fatal shootings on the Danziger Bridge in the turbulent days after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department announced Friday.
It took jurors three days of deliberations to convict the officers in the shooting death of 17-year-old James Brissette on Sept. 4, 2005, six days after the storm left a trail of destruction. Moments later, an officer shot and killed 40-year-old Ronald Madison and wounded four others, reports show.
Officers Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavasoare were convicted in the shootings, along with a fifth defendant, former detective Arthur Kaufman.
"Today's verdict by these jurors sends a powerful, a powerful, unmistakable message to public servants, to law enforcement officers and to the citizens we serve and indeed to the world," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said on Friday. "That message is that public officials and especially law enforcement officers will be held accountable for their acts, and that any abuse of power, especially that power that violates the rights and the civil liberties of our citizens, will have serious consequences."
And justice for all.
Sometimes it really does work that way.
Read more at CNN.
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