April 8, 2010 10:59

Officer Says Cops Shot Unarmed Civilians on Bridge

Yesterday, the details of Officer Michael Hunter's guilty plea in the Danziger Bridge case were released. According to Hunter's plea, he drove at least seven officers to the bridge that day in a Budget rentral truck. The officers were responding to a radio transmission that other officers were taking fire nearby.

As the truck approached a group of civilians on the bridge, Hunter says he fired a warning shot in the air. But according to his plea, several other officers fired upon the civilians, and continued shooting even after it was determined that the civilians were unarmed and injured.

Three officers then followed a group of three men who were running away, near the bottom of the bridge. Two of the men were Lance and Ronald Madison. In the fall of 2009, Times-Picayune reporter Laura Maggi told FRONTLINE what happened to the Madisons on the bridge that day.

According to Hunter's plea, Ronald Madison was "running with his hands in view, had no weapon and posed no threat." An officer shot Madison in the back; as he lay dying, a second officer "began kicking or stomping Ronald Madison repeatedly with his foot."

Ronald Madison and 17-year-old James Brisette died on the Danziger Bridge that day; four other civilians were wounded. Read more ...