Ex-Cop Michael Hunter Pleads Guilty in Danziger Shooting — ProPublica

Series: Law & Disorder

Ex-Cop Michael Hunter Pleads Guilty in Danziger Shooting

by A.C. Thompson

April 8, 2010, 9:30 a.m. EDT

Former New Orleans police officer Michael Hunter pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of conspiring to obstruct justice and failure to report a felony for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings, which occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He's the third ex-cop to admit guilt in the ongoing case.

On Sept. 4, 2005, Hunter and other officers barraged a group of civilians with gunfire, killing two and wounding four others. The latest guilty plea, covered in depth by our partners at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, offers fresh details about that bloody day.

The judge who accepted Hunter's guilty plea said she was "sickened by the raw brutality of the shooting and the craven lawlessness of the cover-up" by police.

With the Times-Picayune and PBS "Frontline," ProPublica is investigating a string of violent encounters between police and civilians in the wake of the hurricane, examining the deaths of Danny Brumfield, Matt McDonald, and Henry Glover, as well as the non-fatal shooting of Keenon McCann.

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