Mario Tama/Getty Images(NEW ORLEANS) — The city of New Orleans will pay out $13.3 million in civil settlements over three cases of police brutality that happened around the time of Hurricane Katrina.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu said it was the end of “a very dark moment in the history of New Orleans” when he announced the settlement at a press conference on Monday. He was joined by the families of the victims; James Brissette, Henry Glover, Ronald Madison and Raymond Robair.
“We have come to the conclusion of a very painful episode,” Landrieu said according to ABC affiliate WGNO-TV. “When these individuals were looking for people to protect and serve … they got the complete opposite.”
Brissette, 17, and Madison, 40, were killed by members of the New Orleans Police Department in a shooting at Danziger Bridge on Sept. 4, 2005, six days after Hurricane Katrina hit. Neither of them were armed and Madison was mentally disabled.
Five officers were found guilty of civil rights and obstruction charges after trying to cover-up the crime, but former NOPD officer Gregory McRae is the only one serving prison time, according to WGNO-TV.
Glover was 31 when officers, in the time after the hurricane, shot and killed him and burned his body in his car outside a strip mall, WGNO-TV reports.
Robair was 48 when he was beaten to death by a NOPD officer a month before Hurricane Katrina, according to WGNO-TV.
“Money can never fill the hole, but I am hopeful that an apology on behalf of the city and forgiveness from the family… I’m hoping in some sense the strength of these families will help the city find peace in our future,” the mayor said according to WGNO-TV.
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