Shots on the Bridge: Police Violence and Cover-up in the Wake of Katrina

by Ronnie Greene Narrated by Jonathan Yen

Overview

Six days after Hurricane Katrina's landfall in New Orleans, New Orleans Police Department officers opened fire on residents crossing the Danziger Bridge. When the shooting stopped, a mentally challenged man and a seventeen-year-old boy were dead, riddled with gunshot wounds. A mother's arm was shot off, her daughter's stomach gouged with a bullet hole, and her husband's head pierced by shrapnel. Her nephew was shot in the neck, jaw, stomach, and hand. All six of the victims, along with two others arrested at the scene, were black and unarmed. Before the blood dried, the shooters and their supervisors had hatched a cover-up. They would plant a gun, invent witnesses, and charge two of their victims with attempted murder. The NOPD hailed all the shooters on the bridge as heroes.



Shots on the Bridge explores one of the most dramatic cases of injustice in the last decade. It reveals the fear that gripped the police of a city fallen into anarchy, the circumstances that led desperate survivors to go to the bridge, and the horror that erupted with the gunfire. It dissects the cover-up that nearly buried the truth and the legal maze that, a decade later, leaves the victims still searching for justice.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A poignant and skillful examination of a case that adds to the ongoing public debate about corrupt police practices, the militarization of local law enforcement, and convoluted legal decisions." ---Kirkus

Library Journal - Audio

★ 02/01/2016
Here investigative reporter Greene (Night Fire) tells the shocking story of New Orleans police officers using assault rifles and shotguns to attack two unarmed black families as they walked across the Danziger Bridge six days after Hurricane Katrina. A 17-year-old boy and a 40-year-old mentally handicapped man were killed in the melee, and four others were seriously wounded. Greene provides a detailed account of each individual's actions during the event, as well as the police cover-up, which involved planting a gun and inventing witnesses. Eventually, representatives from the federal Department of Justice were able to convince a few of the guilty officers to tell the truth; however, the resulting legal battles are still ongoing. The narration by Jonathan Yen is perfect for the atmosphere of the book. VERDICT While the story may not provide a satisfying ending, this well-researched work is a necessary purchase as the Black Lives Matter movement shines a light on police killings of unarmed people across the country. ["This engrossing tale is shockingly reminiscent of more recent examples of police misconduct and should appeal to civic-minded readers": LJ 7/15 review of the Beacon hc.]—Jason L. Steagall, Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170892495
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	08/18/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Steering with his right hand, the ex-marine leans out the window and fires a handgun with his left toward a pack of people he glimpses ahead, gathered at the foot of the bridge. The truck screeches to a halt, sending some in back tumbling over, and officers pour out. They say nothing. One, Anthony Villavaso II, rips nine shots from his AK-47. Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Officer Faulcon hits the ground, pumps his shotgun, then fires. He pumps again, then fires. . . . One officer aims his pistol at the back of a slight figure sprinting away from the bridge, and pulls the trigger twice. Another points his rifle toward two men trying to race up and over the bridge for cover, and fires. . . . When the shooting stops, seventeen-year-old James Brissette Jr. is dead, bullets riddling his six-foot, 130-pound body from the heel of his foot to the top of his head. Susan Bartholomew is trying to crawl on the pavement, her right arm dangling by a thread. Her daughter’s stomach is shredded by a bullet. Her husband’s head is pierced by shrapnel. Her nephew Jose is shot in the neck, jaw, stomach, elbow, and hand. A paramedic arriving soon after says not to bother with him; the teen is too far gone. . . . Ronald Madison is slumped over the pavement, the back of his white shirt turned red, with seven gunshot wounds in his back. As Madison wheezes his final breaths, . . . Hunter watches his former supervisor Bowen . . . stomp on his back, leaving a boot print upon the slight figure sprawled in pools of blood.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Shots on the Bridge"
by .
Copyright © 2016 Ronnie Greene.
Excerpted by permission of Beacon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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