- 19 hours ago
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time - Season 1 Episode 4 -
Shoot To Kill
Shoot To Kill
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00:03in order to destroy our people you got to take away their humanity it was not all the storm
00:14they didn't care whatsoever about getting us out of here because it should never have taken that
00:21long but they were more worried about something else I hate to say it can't protect our property
00:30and I don't understand why they're not being even harder when law enforcement is present order is
00:35expected without it terror and mayhem can ensue I need reinforcements I need troops man thousands
00:45of newly arrived guardsmen have been ordered to take the city back from armed looters they
00:51said that New Orleans was out of control ruled by thugs when they came down there all they found
00:59is some hard-working God-fearing people that just happened to be poor is martial law in effect there
01:07I don't know why that isn't in effect well martial law something to shoot leaders on site states
01:11Congress well the martial law comes from the United States Congress it is a complicated process would
01:17you request martial law I've already called for martial law in the city of New Orleans
01:35the breaking news of this hour the mayor of New Orleans redeploying 1500 city police tonight he says
01:41taking them off the search for survivors putting them instead on the search for looters
01:49I was in the Hyatt Hotel along with the rest of the executive staff of the mayor it was at
01:56that point
01:56that police chief compass came into the room where the mayor and I were he said I've got a problem
02:03so the room cleared out and the police chief said last night one of our officers was just shot in
02:11the head New Orleans police officer Kevin Thomas stopped four suspicious men at the Chevron in the
02:17city's West Bank three cooperated but when he went to frisk the fourth a bullet from a 45 ripped through
02:23his
02:24head the savage attack that almost took his life you had situation where people actually shooting at
02:30the police whether the case of Kevin Thomas where he actually got shot in the head chief compass knew the
02:37officer and he became very emotional that's when the mayor responded to the police chief and said you do
02:45whatever you need to do to get this back under control tonight in a rare move practically
02:53unheard of in the United States martial law declared I told my officers the rules of engagement are still
03:02in effect we are not shooting looters I am not condoned in the use of deadly force except if your
03:09life is
03:09in danger I was adamant about that but I was one man in one place this was a citywide disaster
03:20you know and I
03:22couldn't be in the minds of 1300 police I still say today we didn't have a crime problem during Katrina
03:29we
03:30had an evacuation problem we had a command and control issue we had logistic issues we had
03:35transportation issues to get people out as quick as we could but it wasn't a crime problem but boy
03:41we got a lot of troops and police on the street we are ready nobody's gonna loot this town when
03:47you
03:47got all these old people in the building over here fucking dying hello there were still an awful lot of
03:55problems on the ground there were still perhaps thousands of people who were trapped in flooded homes
03:59rescue workers have to get out and they have to get to them and bring them back because by this
04:03point
04:03they've got to be running out of food and water
04:09good morning critical hours ahead in new orleans rescue teams getting back to work in the aftermath
04:14of hurricane katrina they're trying to save people trapped in their homes since the storm hit
04:20it was all about life saving that's it to know that you are actually the exact right person for the
04:29job
04:30and that you have the perfect training for it it means it's go time but we started to hear that
04:38civilians were shooting at the helicopters so we were in the middle of hoisting a bunch of people and we
04:47only had like six people in the helicopter and they just dropped the bare hook without a rescue device so
04:53i
04:53knew that was just for me so i clipped in and went up and then they just shut the door
04:58and i was like
04:59what's going on like we hit we had a basically an empty plane and uh they're like a helicopter crashed
05:05and i was like oh my god the story was that there was a swat police van that had been
05:12taken over by
05:13civilians and that they were shooting at the helicopters they stopped all rescue operations
05:20and everybody had to land at the coast guard air station
05:26i got the call from the white house and said the boss want to know are there snipers in new
05:32orleans
05:33because if they are he would airdrop the 82nd airborne in i said there's no snipers in new
05:38orleans what people are doing is they're shooting to try to get attention they said okay but if they
05:43proved to be there we're going to send federal troops and federalize the entire operation that
05:48would have been a big deal that would have put a large contingent of federal troops in charge of
05:52enforcing the law against the people of new orleans we did not need that
06:01there wasn't an uprising that needed to be suppressed there were people who needed to be helped
06:08an active force needed to handle the humanitarian side of the disaster
06:16so now we were back at the coast guard air station and we were like oh my god who is
06:22it who is it that
06:23crashed and then found out it was us my helicopter in particular they thought had crashed or got
06:33uh shot at because nobody had heard from us for hours but once we realized that we were the so
06:41-called
06:42missing party then word got back to you know the powers that be but it took them a while basically
06:52our
06:52whole fleet and not just us it was you know other branches and stuff were grounded for that time period
06:58when they thought a helicopter had crashed and i had the radio on and i was just listening to
07:04everything going on and i was just like oh my god we're not gonna get them all
07:11yeah it's like we're not gonna get them all
07:21so we were chump and a bit because we were i felt like we were wasting time
07:26so what i found actually insulting was the stuff about how there wasn't enough done because of race
07:34when that was the opposite for us but i know that's not true for everybody
07:38my personal experience was that there were helicopters out there but they were flying more
07:46going towards the lakeview area
07:50lakeview is an affluent area with very nice houses people of higher income and when you are in the
07:59water in harm's way and a helicopter is just passing over you constantly going and you know where
08:11that wasn't fair that's why i worked on fishing boats trying to get people out of attics out of harm's
08:27way
08:28so the storm hit sunday and this was thursday and we felt as if the help was coming but we
08:36were having
08:36a hard time understanding why it wasn't there yet we did not know that help was being stopped
08:43we still had a lot of people on rooftops needing to be rescued but we knew there would be people
08:50who
08:51said i've got a boat i'm getting out on the water and i'm saving whoever i can and that's all
08:58we had
08:58for quite a while every day we followed the same path with the boat and every house had water up
09:08to the roof
09:11every house
09:15you had people who were trapped in the attic but the tense heat of the day was overwhelming
09:25back up old boy back up back up back up
09:32we got him
09:35i hear somebody else yo
09:43you see there's a difference in a cry for help and a wailing i've heard both
09:53and you realize that help really isn't on the way
10:04i got you madam right here just hold on you're gonna be all right i saw eric doing his thing
10:09and he
10:10saw me and as i was past and i was like oh look that's eric and eric look oh look
10:15that's john it was
10:16like hey buddy i can't turn around and chit chat which i got to go but nah it was good
10:22to see i couldn't
10:23see him do anything different though john keller i can't say enough about that brother he's he could do it
10:30all
10:34i lived in american can apartments used to be a cannery so after the hurricane hit and the flood
10:42we went door to door so many people rolled to the door in their wheelchairs
10:47and when i closed i looked at my cousin chris i said man these people are in trouble
10:53we don't have any elevators these people are going to die in their apartments
10:59i said we got to get them out of here
11:03about on the top rooftop american can apartment i had 170 people in the build people were still coming to
11:10the build say hello so they went to the roof so i went and i got the fire extinguishers you
11:18know
11:18which was the parlor inside of them and i sprayed out drp mre's h20 that was acronyms that we use
11:26in
11:26the military so it's just a little quicker the helicopter will fly over us and read the little
11:33thing and fly up to like oh they come to get us but then they flew over me for a
11:38couple days reading
11:39my sign on the roof and they wasn't trying to do anything but i saw arrest all the white people
11:43at the building behind the american camp i said man let me hopefully i'm not right but let's get
11:50all the black people off the roof all the white people in the wheelchairs on the top of the roof
11:56i said i hope i'm not right 15 minutes later gave me whatever i need 15 minutes
12:05i said man i got 60 elderly right now we don't get them out here it's gonna be a morgan
12:13so they lifted off the roof the people were able to walk around or whatever i shuttled them to
12:19the bayou where the helicopters were picking people up i didn't do it by myself i had 12 people that
12:26helped me get all this together and i didn't know i was gonna have to like organize this rescue and
12:32make
12:32it happen but i wound up uh evacuating and helping 244 people get rescued out the american camp
12:43but when you in america and this supposed to be the greatest country on the planet
12:49and i'm watching how they treating these citizens and how they're not worrying about
12:53these citizens like they're like second-class citizens man it was appalling after all the
12:58stuff i did for this country and for them not to give you food and water because you're black
13:04on the roof man now that's a hard pill to swallow
13:14people still inside the superdome and the situation there is 23 000 according to uh the
13:19federal even as officials work to clear the superdome and pick up survivors from the interstates
13:24there are new problems the real hell on earth in new orleans this morning was here at the convention
13:30center one of the official evacuation sites but there are no buses here and there's no sign they're
13:36coming soon state and local officials are pointing the finger at washington and vice versa i just want to
13:41know why they don't bring me buses i only take you people out of here new orleans mayor issued an
13:46urgent sos on
13:47thursday for storm victims trapped at the convention center supplies there are running out we go baby
13:53out here they don't have no formula no water and they want us to survive out here where's the man
14:09somehow the uh state and government hadn't exposed the fact that when the focus was on the superdome
14:16we had an equal number of people at the convention center that was standing outside
14:25we first learned at the convention center we being the federal government today
14:29i've heard you say during the course of this evening on a number of interviews
14:33you just found out about it today don't you guys watch television don't you guys listen to the radio
14:38how is it possible that you're not that we're getting better intel than you're getting we had a
14:42uh a crew in the air we were showing live pictures of of the people outside of the convention center
14:48we're feeding those people in the convention center but it begs the question why are you discovering this
14:52now it's five days that fema's been on the ground the head of police says it's been five days that
14:57fema's
14:58been there i believe a lot of people outside of the city probably combined the convention center and
15:05the superdome into one building just not knowing those two terms together people outside of the city
15:17saw that as one place you know with all due respect the people in the convention center are being fed
15:22the people in the superdome i'm sorry you're absolutely correct we're getting the supplies to
15:35the convention center now we found out much later that as we were telling people in the federal
15:42government that in the superdome they have food and they have water at the same time in the convention
15:50center there was no food there was no water we're finding food wherever we can i just finished serving
15:57the old folks as best i could for what we had i hadn't ate i hadn't ate in like three
16:04days you know
16:06we're all out there the whole day didn't pass by all the hot sun we out there in the hot
16:10sun all day the
16:11sun beaming this is a federal disaster not a local one first let me tell you there have been deliveries
16:17of food water and medical supplies to the superdome and that's happened uh almost from the very
16:22beginning but this is the convention center i said i i have not heard a report of thousands of people
16:26in the convention center who don't have food and water no food no water people in here are dying from
16:34not 80s when the police chief uh was telling me at the convention center hey we got all these thugs
16:53on it what are you talking about they say oh they're arresting they're fighting with my cops down here we
16:59need more uh troops in here to help control them we need more police so i went down there and
17:07they
17:07were just like the people at the superdome waiting for somebody to tell them how they were going to
17:12evacuate these people haven't seen security here at the convention center for four days the fear was
17:19that they would turn violent that they would attack supplies and buses and look at them they're sitting
17:24peacefully they're just waiting for a line that's taking too long to go i call that the patience of
17:31the poor i grew up that way you learn to wait when you're poor in america you're not free and
17:42when
17:42you're poor you you learn to have patience you lose choices when you're poor yeah you don't pick where
17:49your kids go to school you don't pick where you live and you don't pick where you go to the
17:53doctor
17:53if you can get to see one so many of these people almost all of them that we see are
18:01so poor and they
18:03are so black and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story
18:09unfold we didn't have no protection out there you know but for some reason everybody was kind of calm
18:17because of the crisis you know they knew what was going on they knew right now it's just the time
18:22for survival one thing about the poor people from new orleans we knew how to survive if anything else
18:29we knew how to survive we knew how to eat we knew how to you know we knew how to
18:32get food we knew how to
18:36work but we can't survive in water and we cannot survive in water that's over our head you know
18:42what i mean we you know y'all y'all got us with that
18:48over four thousand national guard troops were operating in new orleans today more arrived in
18:53armored vehicles another 12 000 have been ordered to the region in simplest of terms exaggerating
18:59conditions on the ground just makes things worse we believe that we need to free up the national guard
19:05essentially to do security in the city i think probably the mission that came through the loudest
19:12was it's it's really messed up down there and you need to go help fix it and that's probably not
19:17the
19:17right mindset of people who should arrive here should have
19:31that's probably not the right mindset of people who need to go to the super dome
19:32after we got to the super dome we were greeted by the national guard and the national guard wanted to
19:40search my daughter my niece they want to go inside their bras and their underwear and search this two
19:48year old baby and go inside of her pamper to see if we had any weapons to go inside the
19:53super dome and then told me i couldn't bring my dog
20:00so i walked down to the hyatt and the clerk at the desk i was like here's my credit card
20:08can we just get a room just one room she said no ma'am the computers are down we're on
20:15auxiliary
20:15electricity but you can stay and they said anyone with pets y'all have to go to like
20:23the third floor i think it was to the ballroom in the third floor i just had surgery and i've
20:30forgotten
20:31my medicine so by now it's like hours since i've taken a pain pill or anything and i'm in severe
20:39pain
20:39i'm trying not to short i'm trying to be strong for them but i'm sweating and i'm shaking and i'm
20:45cold and i'm hurting and my daughter and my niece left left the hotel and went to i think they
20:59said they
20:59went to walgreens or something and so they came back with like this big santa claus bag full of
21:05shampoos and tylenol and they were all excited and they got this bag mom we got you some medicine mom
21:12you gonna be okay mom we went looting i was like oh my god you guys could have been killed
21:20y'all could
21:20have been shot then they boarded up the hotel and they weren't letting anybody else in and they were
21:30you know telling us that we had to act accordingly and this guy was knocking on the door
21:39and he kept saying you know let me in let me in i was already in there let me in
21:45and the national guard
21:46saying sir do not advance we can't let you in here sir do not advance so we had all of
21:55this and i'm like
21:57scared to dead half of the time we got the military walking around pointing guns making folks go to
22:03sleep lay down move here move there you know hurry up hurry up i said move now pointing guns
22:09at you and you're like okay
22:17it was a lot it was a lot and it kept you so defensive that your body ate
22:24from you know just wondering what next what next you know is i know something else is going to happen
22:30what next
22:35governor blanco talked to some of her guys from the national guard
22:39and she went out and did a press conference and said i have one message for these
22:45for these hoodlums these troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so
22:53if necessary and i expect they will i said governor you don't want to tell your troops to shoot people
23:00to
23:01kill that's your people oh general
23:07man please that's not something you ever want to do
23:11by any government elected official is to tell the troops to shoot civilians
23:18that that will flip our democracy we saw what happened at kent state
23:25when troops over some bullshit mission went out there and shot students on the campus
23:29i didn't want to be any part of a operation where troops thought they had cart blank to shoot people
23:38it took four days but the national guard finally rolled a relief convoy into downtown new orleans
23:44today our job was to protect people and evacuate them that was the priority
23:51not protect some store or protect property
23:56i think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this
24:03and we struggling people going loose stores and they're bringing us the juices and they're about
24:07to kill them then we are nothing we need to be very careful when we feel that the tone has
24:13shifted
24:15and if suddenly the mission feels like we're protecting stuff
24:36and then the rumble of trucks it's clear the rescuers feared the ones that came to help
24:43at least initially this was not combat operations there was nobody shooting at it but federal troops
24:49had the perception of what they saw from exaggerated report on television that the city was out of
24:56control can the national guard get the city of new orleans under control violence seems to be everywhere
25:01some thugs are even threatening ems personnel we'll have the very latest
25:06some of them have been fresh from iraq and they knew what the counter sniper rule was
25:11if you got 10 troops all of them are pointing in different directions looking for the sniper
25:16looking at the ground looking at eye level looking on top of buildings
25:22and that that was a concerning scene when those troops turned the corner from padres to convention
25:28street pointing their weapons in many cases they were pointing weapons at a place where a lot of
25:33ladies with babies and elderly ladies were standing
25:38in a disaster one of the first thing you got to do is figure out what rules you're going to
25:47break
25:57the rules federal officers don't tell the national guard what to do and at that time we didn't work for
26:03the national guard and national guard didn't work well put those damn weapons down i'm going to play
26:07again god damn it get those goddamn weapons down
26:13put those weapons down damn it well you see them doing dumb yeah you tell them what to do because
26:18they do a lot of great stuff but if they're doing dumb that's not consistent with the mission
26:33that guardsman who's in wisconsin who's packing their bag and they're preparing to come to louisiana
26:38kind of feels like they're going to a war zone and they weren't but that's the mindset they brought
26:43with them that it was really really bad here put that weapon down on your back
26:50when you're in rescuing people you don't point guns at them
26:59by that time i became somewhat of the de facto voice because i was on the ground in new orleans
27:04not in baton rouge and not in dc and i knew one of the implied tasks was to get the
27:12story straight
27:13and i clearly understand our mission was to save lives hey tiger let's go again the people aren't
27:21the problem the system's the problem the lack of of systems that took care of all these people was
27:26the problem but the people aren't the problem go help the people and i think that got lost you know
27:32my understanding is that martial law is in effect and it's at this point we can't protect our own
27:39Martial law was never an act in the new orleans man Eggan announced that martial law was in effect
27:45but he didn't have the authority to declare martial law and that contributed to a lot of confusion on the
27:51ground in practice declaring martial law meant giving the police chief the authority to
27:59do whatever he needed to do.
28:01That's my understanding of martial law.
28:03There was rumor that New Orleans was under martial law,
28:06but no one had ever told the police department,
28:10hey, we're under martial law.
28:11No, that never happened.
28:12But there was rumors about all of that all over the place.
28:16So did some officers believe that?
28:19That was a possibility.
28:21There was a lot of opportunities there
28:23to do some unsavory things.
28:26But people with integrity don't do that.
28:27I can vouch for my men and women that work for me.
28:31Didn't happen.
28:32Now, you had some policemen,
28:35probably had unsavory intentions
28:36and kind of stepped over the line.
28:38Not just some, you probably had a lot.
28:47It was a Friday evening.
28:49The buses didn't come none through the week.
28:51So we thought it was men that were going to come on Friday.
28:57So it started getting almost dark.
29:00Every time the people out there
29:02would see lights coming down the street,
29:04they're thinking that's the buses coming to take us away.
29:10A call cam from down the street,
29:12they thought it was a bus.
29:13So it was a cop call.
29:15And the cop, you know, he rolled back,
29:16he rolled past, took his time.
29:19This little guy was like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
29:22He was just like, when are they going to send the buses?
29:25So the cop, he slowed down a little bit.
29:29The little guy felt like he was being ignored, right?
29:31So he turned around and walked off.
29:34And when he turned around and walked off,
29:36the cop rolled the back window down
29:39and stuck his shotgun out of the window
29:42and hit the little guy in his back.
29:45Bam!
29:49And then the guy just dropped right there.
29:51Like, he killed this man in front of all these people.
29:56And the guy's sister was out there.
29:58Like, that lady not going to never be right.
30:01You know what I'm saying?
30:01As long as she lives, she's not going to never be right
30:03because she witnessed her brother getting killed for nothing,
30:06trying to find out some information.
30:09Well, I thought that was the coldest thing in the world.
30:12Like, the police really killing people,
30:13and they're killing people in front of everybody.
30:18So I just felt like, I was like, okay, well,
30:21this was going to happen to me.
30:22I thought that was going to happen to me.
30:24I definitely did.
30:35When we knew that there was no food and water
30:39at the convention center
30:40and the number of people kept growing
30:43and it had reached above 20,000 people,
30:46the mayor said,
30:48if you're at the convention center, walk.
30:52At least then, you know you're walking
30:55toward the safety of others.
30:59We found one evacuation route
31:01to walk across the Crescent City Connection
31:03on the overpass, down Highway 90.
31:06There's buses coming.
31:08You may be able to find some relief.
31:12So we were up on the interstate
31:15and it was hot as hell.
31:19It was unbearable in some situations.
31:21You didn't have access to water,
31:24so my sister and the people we were with
31:26decided we were going to go as far down as we could go.
31:29We walked down trying to get as close as we could
31:33to the Algeist, to the bridge,
31:35the Great New Orleans Bridge.
31:36The only thing we were looking for
31:37was to be able to find someplace safe.
31:41But that didn't happen.
31:52By the time the word got to the people
31:55at the convention center
31:56and they began to walk
31:57across the Mississippi River Bridge,
31:59unfortunately, the story of lawlessness
32:02took such a life of its own
32:04that good members of law enforcement
32:07but also emergency personnel
32:10and surrounding neighbors
32:12turned people back,
32:15turned good people back from help.
32:19You ready for this?
32:21No.
32:22You think this is one of the scariest things
32:24that you've ever had to do in your life?
32:25I can honestly say, yeah, it is.
32:27When we get to the bridge,
32:28it's going to be fucking scary.
32:29Yeah.
32:30We're going to be crossing
32:30the Crescent City Connection.
32:31The situation is,
32:33everybody who's stuck on this side of the river
32:35without transportation
32:37is in the area
32:38that we're going to right now.
32:40Walking, desperate,
32:41without food or water.
32:42Having eaten in a few days,
32:44having drank in a few days.
32:46You know, so
32:47it's going to be
32:48a pretty desperate situation
32:50when we get there.
32:51And I can honestly say
32:53I have no qualms
32:54about shooting anybody.
32:55It's just that much lawlessness
32:56right now.
32:59They'll have no mercy for us.
33:01No, we have no fear.
33:02We will shoot first
33:04and follow later.
33:05I'll shoot first
33:05to ask questions, please.
33:06Right.
33:11We'll have to be
33:12picking them off the front.
33:15Here we go.
33:17They have set up
33:18a checkpoint
33:18at the bottom of this bridge.
33:20This is the bridge
33:21that takes you from New Orleans
33:22over into Gretna,
33:23from Orleans Parish
33:24into Jefferson's Parish.
33:26It's the only way out.
33:27It's the connection
33:28to the rest of the world.
33:30And they've set up
33:30a checkpoint
33:31and anyone who walks up
33:32out of that city now
33:33is turned around.
33:35You are not allowed
33:36to go to Gretna, Louisiana
33:38from New Orleans, Louisiana.
33:39Over there, there's hope.
33:41Over there, there's electricity.
33:43Over there, there's food and water.
33:45But you cannot go
33:46from there to there.
33:46The government
33:47will not allow you to do it.
33:54We were not allowed
33:55to go across
33:56the Mississippi River Bridge,
33:58even though that's still
33:59Orleans Parish,
34:00which is where our taxes go.
34:03We were told
34:04we could not go
34:05into that part
34:07of the city.
34:11They were under
34:12the impression
34:13that people were just
34:15going to want to leave
34:16New Orleans to go rob them,
34:18which you really wanted
34:19to get out of New Orleans
34:20so you could live
34:21or survive.
34:25Well, I was here.
34:28This is Algiers.
34:29Algiers Park,
34:30to be exact.
34:32Algiers is the West Bank.
34:36Well, we really didn't
34:37have any water there
34:39because it was just
34:40like a dry land,
34:41but they had trees down,
34:43you know, and limbs
34:45and, you know,
34:46stuff in the streets
34:47and stuff like that,
34:48but forest water,
34:49they didn't have no water
34:51on the West Bank
34:52of the River in Algiers.
34:54Well, this is
34:55other hurricanes
34:56that hit New Orleans.
34:57If they don't affect
34:58the West Bank,
34:59we don't leave,
35:01you know,
35:01because we can survive.
35:04It don't damage
35:06that bad.
35:07You're going to have
35:08food in your house,
35:09probably just need water.
35:12Katrina didn't bring
35:13no flooding
35:14on the West Bank,
35:15none.
35:20But Algiers
35:21was not safe.
35:24Some of the areas
35:25were telling the people
35:25don't come over here.
35:28It wasn't safe at all.
35:30It really wasn't.
35:34One of my neighbors
35:35came around here
35:37and he came,
35:38he was trembling.
35:39I said,
35:39man, what's wrong with you?
35:41He said,
35:42man, they tried to kill me.
35:44He said,
35:44man, there's some white boys
35:45around the corner
35:46and I had to beg them
35:48not to shoot them.
35:50I was down the street
35:52and they said,
35:53where you from?
35:54Where you at?
35:54Turn around,
35:55turn around.
35:56I said, hold on.
35:57I live right here
35:58in the next block.
36:00Turn around,
36:01turn around.
36:02Well, I didn't believe it.
36:04I went around that with him.
36:05If you want to call
36:06a vigilante, yeah,
36:08we just look out
36:09for everybody.
36:12You had to do
36:13what you had to do.
36:14You know,
36:15you had to shoot somebody,
36:16you had to shoot somebody.
36:18No, we had that simple.
36:19We shot them.
36:22They were looters.
36:23We tried to shoot
36:24to put them down.
36:25We didn't try to shoot
36:26to kill.
36:26Oh, okay.
36:28We killed a number of them.
36:29How many did you kill roughly?
36:32You can't.
36:33I don't know.
36:34You can't.
36:35You can't.
36:36Yeah, I hear you.
36:37It doesn't matter.
36:39They chose to die.
36:41They chose to commit suicide.
36:43How do you know
36:43the vigilantes,
36:44you see them.
36:47How they patrol around here
36:49in trucks,
36:50four-truck truck,
36:52driver and a passenger,
36:54and then two in the back
36:56with long guns
36:58and nobody telling them anything.
37:01There was no police.
37:03No police,
37:04no army,
37:06no national guard,
37:08nobody.
37:09Then they put in
37:10a shoot to kill
37:11curfew,
37:13a dust to dawn,
37:15shoot to kill.
37:16But there's nobody left.
37:19young blacks
37:20was being killed
37:21in this community.
37:24When you hear
37:25the gunfire,
37:26it's not something
37:27I'm just making up.
37:29It's out there.
37:30It was great.
37:31I gotta go.
37:32It was like
37:32pheasant season
37:33in South Dakota.
37:34I gotta go.
37:35If it moved,
37:36you shot it.
37:50I remember
37:53that the storm
37:54had passed
37:55and we were just,
37:57you know,
37:58in Al Jaze
37:58with no information.
38:01No food,
38:03no water,
38:03nothing like that.
38:11The train of me
38:12and the day
38:12my brother left me,
38:15that's what it mean to me.
38:17The day my brother left.
38:19Henry Glover
38:20was my younger brother.
38:22He was going out
38:23to, you know,
38:24help his sister
38:25and help his family.
38:26You know,
38:27to go out
38:27and trying to get water
38:30and stuff that we need
38:32to survive.
38:33I hit my brother-in-law
38:35from a distance
38:36dirty.
38:38That's my nickname,
38:39dirty red.
38:40Dirty,
38:42dirty.
38:43Police shot your brother.
38:45I said he shot,
38:46my boy shot him where?
38:48I go out
38:49screaming,
38:50running down the street
38:51and asking
38:52where my brother was
38:54and I found my brother
38:56laying in the streets
38:57shot.
38:59I knew it was the police
39:00when the first time
39:01I heard he was shot.
39:02My brother-in-law,
39:03that's what he was saying,
39:04a police
39:05shot your brother.
39:10So when I looked
39:11to the left,
39:12car coming down
39:13the street.
39:13So I flagged that car.
39:15I said,
39:15man,
39:16my brother been shot.
39:17Give me some help.
39:17Help me.
39:18He said,
39:18man,
39:18come on,
39:19put him in the car.
39:19I heard a gunshot.
39:21I went pinching.
39:22I thought it might be
39:22fireworks.
39:23I saw a gentleman
39:24laying on a manhole
39:27and his brother
39:28and his brother-in-law
39:28picked him up
39:29and put him
39:30in my backseat
39:31of my car.
39:32I picked him up.
39:35Blood was hitting
39:36the car
39:36like it was raining.
39:40Sounded like
39:41it was raining.
39:43I told him
39:44to bring him
39:45to the hospital
39:45and William Tanner
39:47told me about
39:48a school called
39:49Haven School
39:51where the police
39:51had a makeshift
39:52substation up there.
39:54So Tanner,
39:55the guy we flagged down,
39:56he said,
39:57man,
39:57I know the police
39:58is over here.
39:59They should have
39:59a doctor over there.
40:01So we shoot out.
40:02So I can bring him
40:03to Haven School
40:04because I know
40:05two days out of the storm
40:06they had medical attention.
40:07They had a truckload
40:08of stuff over there.
40:09These are the police.
40:10So I thought
40:11I might get him
40:12the help he needs.
40:15Five of them come out,
40:16get on the ground.
40:18Get on the ground.
40:19Get on the ground now.
40:20Get on the ground.
40:21I said,
40:22we need help.
40:23He shot.
40:27And they start
40:28beating us up.
40:29Well,
40:29they kicked me twice
40:30in the stomach
40:31and hit me with
40:31the 16 rifle
40:33inside my cheek.
40:34He punched me
40:35in the face.
40:36Bah!
40:37Stuck me up.
40:38Put his hand
40:39around my throat.
40:40Choked me
40:41till I was
40:42my eyes rose
40:43in the back
40:43of my head.
40:44I thought
40:45they was gonna kill me.
40:46For them
40:47to be beating me,
40:48that's when
40:49they registered.
40:50These are the people
40:51who shot him.
40:53They did take
40:53a picture of us.
40:54It was with the police
40:55handcuffed behind
40:56the police
40:56in a police car.
40:59I saw
40:59one of them
41:00had flares
41:01in his pocket
41:02and he drove off
41:03with my car
41:04with Henry
41:05glove in the back seat.
41:06I told Edward,
41:07I don't think
41:07I'll see that car again
41:09because I figured
41:10that when
41:10the flares
41:11he had in his pocket,
41:12he was gonna
41:13burn the car up.
41:18His remains
41:19was found
41:20burnt
41:22inside
41:23of a car.
41:31People talk
41:32about Katrina
41:33kind of shy
41:34away and walk off.
41:35Katrina just
41:36a hurricane.
41:37But what
41:39they did
41:40during that time,
41:42that was evil.
41:45Pure evil.
41:47I don't
41:48remember that.
41:52I'm not
41:53a naive person
41:54to violence.
41:55But nothing
41:56prepared me
41:57for what
41:58happened
41:59after Katrina.
42:03And it's
42:04real hard
42:06to see
42:06when that violence
42:07is being
42:09inflicted upon you
42:11and you
42:12can't defend
42:13yourself from it.
42:14That's what
42:15it happened
42:16after Katrina.
42:23At the parish line,
42:26the county line
42:27of Gretchen,
42:28they were met
42:29with attack dogs
42:31and police officers
42:33with machine guns
42:34saying,
42:35you have to turn
42:36back.
42:38So we were up
42:39on the bridge
42:40and it became
42:41more of a
42:43situation where
42:44when are we
42:45gonna get out?
42:46How are we
42:47going to get out?
42:48We get, look.
42:49We're this high in water.
42:51We grab what we get.
42:53How long
42:54have you been
42:54walking for?
42:54About at least
42:55three hours.
42:56They weren't
42:56gonna go in
42:57those doggone
42:58neighborhoods.
42:58They weren't
42:59gonna impact
43:00those neighborhoods.
43:01Those people
43:02were looking
43:02to escape
43:03and they cut
43:03off the last
43:04available exit
43:06route.
43:07Look at my
43:08people.
43:10I got two
43:12rancher
43:12and a nephew,
43:13another nephew
43:14right now we
43:15got trying
43:16to get the
43:16old folks out.
43:18If I stay
43:19up here,
43:20I'm gonna die.
43:21If I go
43:22that fucking
43:22way and they
43:23shoot me now,
43:23I'm gonna die.
43:24So I'm gonna die
43:25any fucking way.
43:26You're gonna
43:27tax me anyway.
43:28But whatever
43:29it takes for me
43:30to get mine
43:31out here,
43:31I'm getting
43:32the fuck
43:32out here.
43:33You heard me?
43:34I wouldn't
43:35give a fuck.
43:36I gotta go.
43:47I gotta go.
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