{"id":440069,"date":"2010-03-17T09:23:23","date_gmt":"2010-03-17T13:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.southernstudies.org,2010:\/\/5.12183"},"modified":"2010-03-23T09:58:05","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T13:58:05","slug":"in-baton-rouge-more-evidence-of-police-misconduct-after-hurricane-katrina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/440069","title":{"rendered":"In Baton Rouge, more evidence of police misconduct after Hurricane Katrina"},"content":{"rendered":"

By A.C. Thompson, ProPublica<\/a><\/i>\n<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Baton Rouge Advocate<\/em> published a
\ndamning expos\u00e9<\/a> detailing allegations of misconduct by Baton Rouge
\npolice officers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.\n<\/p>\n

\nAfter a four-year legal battle, the paper finally got a cache of police
\ndepartment documents describing a pattern of racist and abusive behavior
\n by Baton Rouge officers in the days after the storm ravaged the Gulf
\ncoast. The cops are accused of using demeaning language; routinely
\nharassing African Americans; physically abusing citizens; and seeking to
\n “make life rough for New Orleans evacuees so they would leave town,”
\naccording to the Advocate<\/em>, which has posted the documents online<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\nHere’s the twist: The accusations were made by other cops, 55 state
\ntroopers from New Mexico and Michigan who had been sent to Baton Rouge
\nto assist with post-storm policing. The out-of-state cops were yanked
\nout of Baton Rouge after only two days because of their concerns about
\nmisconduct.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe visiting officers said Baton Rouge cops referred to African
\nAmericans as “heathens” and “animals” that “needed to be beaten down.”\n<\/p>\n

\nIn response to the newspaper’s questions, Baton Rouge Police Chief Jeff
\nLeDuff said some of the allegations against his officers were “maybe
\nblown out of proportion.” He also said his department had investigated
\nthe incidents and dealt with any policy violations uncovered.\n<\/p>\n

\nFive years after the hurricane, controversy about police tactics in the
\naftermath of the disaster continues to swirl. In recent weeks, two<\/a>
\n former<\/a>
\n New Orleans cops have pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection
\nto high-profile shootings on the Danziger
\nBridge<\/a>. Federal agents are investigating four other police shooting
\nincidents<\/a> from the time period.\n<\/p>\n

\nWe’re covering these violent encounters in an ongoing series<\/a> with the New Orleans
\nTimes-Picayune<\/em><\/a> and PBS
\n“Frontline.”<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By A.C. Thompson, ProPublica On Sunday, the Baton Rouge Advocate published a damning expos\u00e9 detailing allegations of misconduct by Baton Rouge police officers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. After a four-year legal battle, the paper finally got a cache of police department documents describing a pattern of racist and abusive behavior by Baton Rouge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5733,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5733"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}