Police supervisor pleads guilty in Danziger Bridge probe;

Bearco · Feb 24, 2010

Police supervisor pleads guilty in Danziger Bridge probe; plea deal blows case wide open
By Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune
February 24, 2010, 3:30PM

Retired New Orleans police Lt. Michael Lohman has pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Danziger Bridge shootings, which left two people dead and six others injured after police fired on a group of civilians trapped in the submerged city days after Hurricane Katrina.
Two men -- Ronald Madison, 40, who was mentally challenged, and James Brissette, 19 -- were killed. The survivors included a husband and wife, their two teenage children and a nephew.

Lohman, who helped orchestrate an elaborate cover-up of the crime, supervised the investigation and was at the scene on Sept. 4, 2005, according to an 11-page bill of information unsealed today.

According to the document, Lohman was aware that a subordinate planted a gun at the scene, wrote a 17-page police report full of lies about the incident, and encouraged officers at the scene to remove shell casings.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, plus possible restitution.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/02/police_supervisor_pleads_guilt.html

Nolacopusmc · Feb 24, 2010

Damn...this won't be pretty.

Tulse Luper · Feb 24, 2010

I heard this on the radio earlier. **** looks like it's going to hit fans.

Speedlace · Feb 24, 2010

BearIT said:
According to the document, Lohman was aware that a subordinate planted a gun at the scene. He also wrote a 17-page police report full of lies about the incident and encouraged officers at the scene to remove shell casings.

Tulse Luper said:
**** looks like it's going to hit fans.

Indeed.

Nolacopusmc · Feb 24, 2010

If what he says is true, while I am willing to let a lot of **** from Katrina fly, that is just wrong, and that is why people do not trust the police. I still doubt it was "cold-blooded murder", but it looks like something happened, they got scared and tried to cover it up instead of just being honest.

It will bite you every time.

ryan · Feb 24, 2010

another article also says the feds are investigating "a slue of post katrina police shootings"

I read that on nola.com this afternoon.

Honesty is always the best policy.

Kraut · Feb 24, 2010

The Feds, in a time crunch to beat the statute expiration, found the one guy they could threaten with a lot and then wave a bargain in front of to get him to give up anyone else they wanted to target. This now retired guy, enjoying his final years, suddenly has to face the possibility of longer sentences, possibly stacked consecutively for multiple counts or charges, that they might have been able to pressure out of a federal jury, or take the almost sure bet of a fraction of the five year maximum for one count covering multiple acts. Now it will come down to who gets singled out by the rest as the actual shooters of the slain versus those just going along with a cove-up. Kinda like they roll up mob crews and motorcycle gangs.

Witness · Feb 24, 2010

If you help cover something up, or know of a cover up and don't speak out against it you should be just as guilty as the guy that pulled the trigger. The police stood behind their blue wall of silence, and anyone who knew about it should go down with the shooters.

dzelenka · Feb 24, 2010

Kraut said:
Kinda like they roll up mob crews and motorcycle gangs.

Don't forget politicians.

Summit_Ace · Feb 24, 2010

Nolacopusmc said:
If what he says is true, while I am willing to let a lot of **** from Katrina fly, that is just wrong, and that is why people do not trust the police. I still doubt it was "cold-blooded murder", but it looks like something happened, they got scared and tried to cover it up instead of just being honest.

It will bite you every time.

Forgive me please, and don't hate me Nola, but I could pick the crap out of this statement. what Katrina **** are you willing to let go? The fact that a lot of LEO's are willing to "let a lot of **** {from Katrina or any other case} fly", is why people don't trust cops! Seems like no matter what the evidence, like in this case, there is something missing, always some {valid to LEO'S} reason why this guy didn't do it. Well maybe he is just a dirt bag? Why do you doubt it was"cold blooded murder"? Cause he had a badge? Since when is "they got scared and tried to cover it up instead of just being honest" an excuse? Name me any scenario in your your mind where any person committing these acts who was not a LEO would be given the consideration you are giving these people now.

My point is not to bash cops, but to point out they are human just like me. The fact that they carry a badge does not make them infallible, nor their word worth more then mine. They are people just like me. When I go in to court their word should not carry any more weight then mine, unfortunately that is not the case. Until statements like " I am willing to let a lot of **** from Katrina fly, that is just wrong, and that is why people do not trust the police. I still doubt it was "cold-blooded murder", but it looks like something happened, they got scared and tried to cover it up instead of just being honest". Stop occurring in the law enforcement community, things will never get better.

"It will bite you every time" Unfortunately, it bites me harder then it bites you.

leVieux · Feb 24, 2010

Prosecutors say that the acceptance of police lying & perjury is the price we must pay for the "Presumption of Innocence". Few modern nations have the presumption of innocence.
I say that that is the worst kind of B.S. Perjuring police should be called to answer for their lies. We should be able to trust officers' sworn testimony. Unfortunately, we can't always.
Police perjury is another facet of TYRANNY, one of the worst.
leVieux

Nolacopusmc · Feb 25, 2010

Summit_Ace said:
Forgive me please, and don't hate me Nola, but I could pick the crap out of this statement. what Katrina **** are you willing to let go? The fact that a lot of LEO's are willing to "let a lot of **** {from Katrina or any other case} fly", is why people don't trust cops! Seems like no matter what the evidence, like in this case, there is something missing, always some {valid to LEO'S} reason why this guy didn't do it. Well maybe he is just a dirt bag? Why do you doubt it was"cold blooded murder"? Cause he had a badge? Since when is "they got scared and tried to cover it up instead of just being honest" an excuse? Name me any scenario in your your mind where any person committing these acts who was not a LEO would be given the consideration you are giving these people now.

My point is not to bash cops, but to point out they are human just like me. The fact that they carry a badge does not make them infallible, nor their word worth more then mine. They are people just like me. When I go in to court their word should not carry any more weight then mine, unfortunately that is not the case. Until statements like " I am willing to let a lot of **** from Katrina fly, that is just wrong, and that is why people do not trust the police. I still doubt it was "cold-blooded murder", but it looks like something happened, they got scared and tried to cover it up instead of just being honest". Stop occurring in the law enforcement community, things will never get better.

"It will bite you every time" Unfortunately, it bites me harder then it bites you.

Glad you enjoyed that little tirade. you obviously did not truly read my post and instead used it as a platform to launch your diatribe. Great one by the way.

Too much crap here for me to even address. But I will leave you with the little gem that every true cop hater loves...

Unless you were a law enforcement officer during Katrina....no matter what you may think you know, you have no idea what you are talking about. It is kinda like me talking about the Holocaust, Rodney king riots, or being in a war. there are dynamics at work that you just do not understand unless you are forced to live it from that perspective.

Other than that, great job at spouting the obvious.

Nolacopusmc · Feb 25, 2010

Kraut said:
The Feds, in a time crunch to beat the statute expiration, found the one guy they could threaten with a lot and then wave a bargain in front of to get him to give up anyone else they wanted to target. This now retired guy, enjoying his final years, suddenly has to face the possibility of longer sentences, possibly stacked consecutively for multiple counts or charges, that they might have been able to pressure out of a federal jury, or take the almost sure bet of a fraction of the five year maximum for one count covering multiple acts. Now it will come down to who gets singled out by the rest as the actual shooters of the slain versus those just going along with a cove-up. Kinda like they roll up mob crews and motorcycle gangs.

I hate to say it, but this case only helps support the negative stereo type of those that believe cops are just that...gangs.

I predict tremendous fallout for NOPD form this, with far reaching vicarious negative impact to LE as a whole. This reeks of NOPD of the 70's-80's.

As I stated earlier, in reality, it was probably a good shoot, but there was something that spooked someone, and a crossroads was presented where someone had the choice to make---they chose wrong. We see it all the time. With the exceptions of the obvious people with criminal intent, most cops who get in trouble are good guys who make a bad decision, and as such, pay the price.

It will be very interesting to see what happens when this house of cards falls down.

Bearco · Feb 25, 2010

Nolacopusmc said:
and a crossroads was presented where someone had the choice to make---they chose wrong.

The father of an old friend of mine used to tell us that one boy has one brain, two boys come together to form a half of a brain, three boys come together for a quarter of a brain....

Nolacopusmc · Feb 25, 2010

BearIT said:
The father of an old friend of mine used to tell us that one boy has one brain, two boys come together to form a half of a brain, three boys come together for a quarter of a brain....

very true.

charliepapa · Feb 25, 2010

BearIT said:
The father of an old friend of mine used to tell us that one boy has one brain, two boys come together to form a half of a brain, three boys come together for a quarter of a brain....

True. I have been a part of those "coming togethers" in days gone by...

I have also recently explained this phenomenon as *gang mentality*.

Mjolnir · Feb 25, 2010

Nolacopusmc said:
If what he says is true, while I am willing to let a lot of **** from Katrina fly, that is just wrong, and that is why people do not trust the police. I still doubt it was "cold-blooded murder", but it looks like something happened, they got scared and tried to cover it up instead of just being honest.

It will bite you every time.

I know the retarded guy's cousin and we spoke at length and in great detial about this about this event a week before we met for lunch. I cannot go into details but it was what we'd like it not to be...

More than one should be taken down, too.

Nolacopusmc · Feb 25, 2010

Mjolnir said:
I know the retarded guy's cousin and we spoke at length and in great detial about this about this event a week before we met for lunch. I cannot go into details but it was what we'd like it not to be...

More than one should be taken down, too.

That is always a possibility. I know one of the shooters quite well. i have not talked to him about it, but everything I know about him is he is a good cop. it would be a real shame on so many levels if this turns out to be completely unprovoked.

being a cop and knowing the guy, what I ASSUME happened, is in the commotion of the incident, the police believed the shooting was coming from there, honestly thought it was him, fired...and realized he was unarmed.

Right then is where that crossroads were. IF THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED, they should have handled it like any other shooting insomuch as they could given the circumstances and lack of resources.

But to completely cover it up like the media said they are is inexcusable. It is understandable that some normal policies and procedures were suspended due to lack of resources like paper, electricity, communications, crime scene, etc...but what the media is reporting is a flat out cover up...and that is flat out wrong.

I fear tat enough of the negativity will be true to cause a serious ripple effect with LEA across the country, but obviously in this region.

It really is a shame for the good guys that they do have.

Bearco · Feb 25, 2010

I agree completely that statement. Until proven otherwise, I would not believe that it was done in cold blood. You have to look at a person as a whole. I would imagine other officers would not have all been on board for covering up cold-blooded-murder.

Bearco · Feb 25, 2010

New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren J. Riley Superintendent of Police Warren J. Riley will hold a press conference concerning the Danzinger Bridge incident.

.

Police supervisor pleads guilty in Danziger Bridge probe;

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