They should have known that you don't take initiative in a time of crisis. They should have been patient; the govt was on their way and was going to make everything better real soon. If only they had waited instead of being hungry.

We only have their word that they were going to steal food and as you said, there was no reason steal the food in the first place.

The cops would have no idea what they planned on stealing.

The cops were fired upon first.

From the article: "Survivors of the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings have said the officers fired at unarmed people crossing the Danziger Bridge to get food at a grocery store.

Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally disabled man, and James Brissette, 19, were killed and four other people were wounded.

The officers admitted to shooting at people on the bridge, but said they were fired upon first"


Visions of Jean Val Jean?

So, were they armed or not. I'm jaded enough to think that a policeman is not above making something up in order to CYA.

And if shots were fired do you just start shooting at the first thing you see? I understand defending yourself, but still, shouldn't you assess a situation before just shooting in "blind defense"?






That link takes you to a time line of events. After two days of inaction by my government, I would be foraging too.


The Bush administration fell face first on this one. The descriptions of what various officials were up to I found disgusting.


Hey, they could've eaten rats I guess.

While some of the "facts" in the Think Progress site are valid, they also throw in some like "Kanye West doesn't care about black people". What does that have to do with a so-called factual timeline? I remember that a number of stories about people dying in the Superdome were later found to be inaccurate, but the press seemed to have a field day with them. It seemed more like a "print the story, we will check the facts later" kind of mentality.

This by no way excuses the officers. If they did, in fact, shoot innocent people they should be held accountable.

A hurricane the magnitude of Katrina can expose holes in response methodologies. it is what you do in the face of adversity that defines you. As a former member of the Coast Guard, we, as well as other federal agencies stepped up and did our job to the best of our abilities.

Agreed. I always carry a grain of salt during my adventures on the intertubes. :)

I was more interested in the response of the administration as opposed to the hyperbole and speculative press.


My hats off to you and your service in the Coast Guard as well.

You're right that we only have their word they were planning on stealing food (and I'll agree that they were probably going to steal much more than food)...

however, we also only have the word of the police that they were fired upon first.