Authorities charged a fifth former New Orleans police officer in connection with the Danziger Bridge shooting, in which officers fired upon six unarmed citizens, killing two, in the days following Hurricane Katrina.
Ignatius Hills, 33, was charged last week with one count of conspiring to obstruct justice and one count of failing to report a crime.
According to the charges, Hills wrote a report that accused one of the civilians of attempting to murder a police officer, when in fact Hills had "no first-hand knowledge of any wrongdoing" by the suspect. Prosecutors also allege Hills lied to a state grand jury. The four other officers who have been charged have already pleaded guilty.
The New Orleans Police Department has been the subject of intense scrutiny from both federal investigators and ProPublica, in collaboration with the New Orleans Times-Picayune and PBS "Frontline." Our coverage has helped bring to light several cases in which NOPD officers shot civilians.
The Justice Department has acknowledged it has eight ongoing investigations into conduct by police in the chaos following the hurricane. Earlier this month, the agency announced it had started a probe to identify ways the NOPD can break its pattern of violence and civil rights infractions.
