Five New Orleans Police Officers Indicted In Post-Katrina Shooting, Burning

NEW ORLEANS — Five current or former New Orleans police officers were charged Friday in the shooting death and burning of a New Orleans man during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

According to earlier published reports, police were using a school as a temporary headquarters on Sept. 2, 2005, when a group of men drove up looking for help for 31-year-old Henry Glover, who had been shot.

One of the men reportedly later told investigators that Glover was still in the back seat when a police officer drove off with his car. Glover's burned remains later were recovered from the charred car when it turned up on a levee near a police station.

Prosecutors would not provide details Friday of what they believe happened.

In indictments Friday, former officer David Warren was charged with violating Glover's rights by allegedly shooting him to death. Along with a charge of unlawful use of a firearm he faces a possible life sentence and a $250,000 fine.

Warren was immediately arrested after the indictment was handed up and is in federal custody, the Department of Justice said in a news release. U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said a federal judge would be asked to order Warren jailed until trial.

Letten also said that under some circumstances, prosecutors can seek a death sentence for a civil rights violation. However, he said the case would require more review before a recommendation to seek the death penalty might be made.

Others charged were former Lt. Robert Italiano, Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann, Lt. Travis McCabe and Officer Gregory McRae.

Scheuermann and McRae are charged with obstructing justice and burning Glover's body and the car in which he was found. They also are accused of assaulting residents who tried to help Glover. If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison and $1 million in fines.

Italiano and McCabe are charged with obstruction of justice for their alleged roles in submitting false reports of the incident and lying to investigators. Italiano, if convicted, faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years and a $500,000 fine. If convicted, McCabe could get 30 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.

Following announcement of the indictment, Letten said the five have a duty to the public, "certainly not to kill them, certainly not to destroy evidence."

At a brief initial appearance hearing, U.S. Magistrate Louis Moore ordered Warren jailed until an arraignment and detention hearing on Thursday. Warren did not enter a plea Friday. His attorney, Joseph Albe, said he could not comment.

Letten said he could not comment on who was representing the other defendants. Their attorneys had not been posted in the court record Friday.

The case is one of several civil rights investigations involving actions of the New Orleans Police Department after Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005, plunging the city into flooding and civil chaos after levees broke.

A civil suit was filed Tuesday in federal court against Warren, McRae and Schueremann by Charlene Green, who says she is the mother of Glover's son, Henry Glover Jr. Although the suit claims that Glover was the victim of civil rights violations, it does not detail what allegedly happened. Green's attorney, Dwight Norton, did not return a call for comment Friday.

Comments

[Chelate]

12:01 AM on 06/22/2010

What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

[Bados]

02:02 PM on 06/12/2010

The sad truth is in these cases it comes down to whether the people who will be making the decision( judge or jury), really believe in their hearts that each individual human life is truly as valuable and the next. If so they do, the cops go the jail for murder, if not they walk.
Because cops usually walk in these type situations, its unfortunate yet clear what the general consensus is.

[kareemachan]

01:53 PM on 06/12/2010

Hopefully, if guilty (and I think they are), they will be convicted, and I can trot out that quote about the mills of God grinding slowly but exceedingly fine.

[motoGpifupleez]

12:47 PM on 06/12/2010

I will believe there is such a thing as "Justice" when i see the word "indicted" replaced with the word "convicted".
Videotape didn't mean anything in the Rodney King trial and there is no videotape here.

[Bienville]

06:17 PM on 06/16/2010

Why isn't "Justice" also served by an aquittal?

Do the police and prosecutors always accuse the perpetrator? Or, do they sometimes make a mistake and try an innocent person?

[guffman]

12:20 PM on 06/12/2010

I'm surprised there aren't more Border Patrol shooting apologists here. This case does, after all, concern beleaguered law enforcement and minorities. Shouldn't the NOLA cops be commended for protecting our security?

[ebanks84]

05:35 PM on 06/12/2010

What are you talking about? What about security is prevalent in this case?

[guffman]

05:49 PM on 06/12/2010

I'm talking about the eagerness with which apologists invoke "security" when making excuses for police violence. Among other things.

[Bienville]

06:22 PM on 06/16/2010

When the NOPD actually begins to "protect and serve," there will be front page headlnes announcing the change in their standard practice.

In 2005, in the Federal flood, a third of them got in their cars - or stole cars - and got the hell out of town.

"Beleaguered," "security," and "protect" are words rarely applicable to the NOPD.

[peowlemeow]

12:16 PM on 06/12/2010

Katrina was a pretty dark time for the NOPD or their true colors came through.Really vicious and terrifying stuff.I am ashamed the President let Blackwater go on resident safari there.It just shows how lawless ad cruel Republicans are.

[ebanks84]

05:36 PM on 06/12/2010

And the devilish intent of the Bush admin.

[bigfated]

06:13 PM on 06/12/2010

Which....just like the Alamo.....we should NEVER forget.

[Darthwave]

12:00 PM on 06/12/2010

Its actually so many more stories like concerning horrific police brutalities but most of them have been buried in local new media. Time to put the cards on the table and say no one cares cause most of the victims are Blacks, Hispanics or very poor whites. These groups don't count in the bottom line of the mainstream media.

[ebanks84]

11:55 AM on 06/12/2010

Group think, camaraderie, and cover-up seems to have manifested here with these officers. Human beings are a "follow the leader" type of people it seems. And when we are in a group, we do just that, like lemmings. And to be in a specific group, like a brotherhood as the police are in, it makes it even more so. Just like the rich looks out for each other, so does the brotherhood groups as well. And thinking like that has no chance of seeking true justice for outsiders. It's all about the brotherhood.

That's why we, the people, are always left to fend for ourselves against all odds. We don't protect each other as we should and don't stand up for each other with the truth. That's why we are slaves to these types of groups. Justice has a blind eye and only the people can make it see reality, but we don't. We are too easily persuaded and threatened by these groups to keep our mouths shut and the fear keeps us apart as a people.

If we don't come together and look out for each other sooner or later, we will NEVER be completely FREE in this country.

[Bobotheclown]

05:22 PM on 06/12/2010

Rich people have money to keep them together. Small brotherhoods of police have loyalty and fear to keep them together. But the people are not a "group", they are the mass of humanity. They have different languages,customs, and cultures. And by and large they do not have the time or the money to spend creating bridges to other groups. They have no pension protection like the police, they have no wealth to keep them secure while they coalese. The people are hand to mouth and this is the way it has always been. The one thing that the people do have is a government that was created one day long ago "by the people and for the people" as a device to protect the people from the predations of the rich and the "brotherhoods". What we are witnessing now is that periodic, one in a lifetime, breakdown of government protection. It has happened before, and it has been corrected before, but not without anguish. We have much misery and much hardship to endure before the next generation of populist leaders takes up the banner and once again leads the people to force government to do its mandated duty to make this country great again.

[ebanks84]

05:32 PM on 06/12/2010

And the only way to do that is to band together and speak as one, as a group, to make a difference. That's all I'm saying. Meaningful change requires a revolution of like minds for sure.

[VanTroi]

11:42 AM on 06/12/2010

Why?

[emma richmond]

11:15 AM on 06/12/2010

We have been talking about this on going, Former Mayor Ray, was nothing but hot air, he and the Governor Jindal and the Police Chief Covered these Horrendous Crimes, it took a NEW MAYOR to come in and request the President and AG Eric Holder to help them with the Investigation Of Corruption of Louisiana, (New Orlean), question is why he didn't go to the Governor Bobby Jindal, because he know Jindal is a Fake and don't really help the People, now he's and the Republicans are Playing to the NEWS MEDIA, " Yesterday an E-Mail from the Republicans said this is a Gift for them, because President Obama put a Pause on the deep water drill, they are Preying on the weak and the suffering, The Republicans are trying to Distact the safety and Investigation of BP and everyone involved, the question is we agree Why James Carville and his Wife and Jindal talking about this, these Horrible Crime, WHY THE MEDIA IS NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS? OH IT'S JUST BLACK PEOPLE, THIS IS NO NEWS, YET THEY ARE PRAISING JINDAL. THE REPUBLICANS SAID THEY LIKE THE MEDIA TALKING ABOUT THIS IT HELPS THEM, WE WOULD LIKE FOR THEM TO TELL THE PEOPLE HOW, AND MAYBE THE MEDIA SHOULD BE QUESTION AND ASK WHO THEY ARE PANDERING TO, EVEN DEADLIEST WATCH CALL THEM FAKE, FACT CHECK ON LARRY KING.

[stargazer13]

10:43 AM on 06/12/2010

why ? did you do this too these people is the question I would like to ask ! these police officers

Why ? law enforcement if you can still call it that . just took out a six year old girl sleeping on her grandmother,s couch they through in granades first WHY do our police now carry granades !

I mean it does seem alful stormtrooper like to carry granades by local police or am I wrong here?

[24kgold]

10:31 AM on 06/12/2010

Well people of color, we should be stock piling too because we know see what happens after a natural catastrophe. Don't be caught slipping, weapon shows are selling out for a reason...

[celticsrule]

10:57 AM on 06/12/2010

The day the our Pres was elected was the day that all
the nutcases, peabaggers declare war on all of us thinking
intelligent people. We should have started then. We are behind
they think that they have all the weapons they need to do a lot
of damage. They even brag about it on local talk radio.

[bruinlover09]

10:23 AM on 06/12/2010

Suddenly remembers when the national media push the narrative that uncontrollable criminal activity was occurring in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It turns out it was the police, not residents who trying to survive, who were behind the criminal activity. But MSM can't change the narrative, once they have decided on a story. That would admitting to faulty and raise questions about other narratives

[Bobotheclown]

03:32 PM on 06/13/2010

It is always like that when a crisis becomes so large that the social fabric starts to break down. The people who are armed will take advantage of the people who are unarmed. The people who are armed will at first be the police who will shed their duty and become predators. As the break down continues the people will find arms to fight the police and the groups that they form will be called "insurgents". And then they as a group will also become predators but on a larger scale. As the breakdown continues society reverts to tribalism and continuous war, the spectacle that we now called "failed states". Katrina was merely the first brief warning of a deeper weakness that is manifest through all of American society. We are detached from each other and isolated from the shared sense of nationhood that we have had for so long. States are mouthing the word "succession" from the mouths of their govenors and minorities are even now being picked for the final slaughter that populates our most paranoid dreams. The MSM have become storytellers for happy news and have no one left with the intelligence to warn us about the obvious. Each crisis become a rehearsal for the nearing "end of days" fantasies. We need leaders with courage and insight and we have none. The center is not holding and no one is listening. Must we experience the bottom to see the top? Is there no place for reason?

[flyn2hi]

10:22 AM on 06/12/2010

Just one more example of post-racial America...some things will never change

[Jigglypuff]

10:19 AM on 06/12/2010

We have those kind of police officers in Florida too:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/florida-kkk-leader-says-law-enforcement-officers-are-169139.html