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By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
Robert Davis, a retired black schoolteacher whose violent arrest by white New Orleans police officers was videotaped by news crews, believes the incident says more about post-Katrina chaos than it does about racism.
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td align="center">
</td></tr></tbody></table><script type="text/javascript"> if (window.yzq_a == null) document.write("<scr" + "ipt type=text/javascript src=""http://us.js1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/lib/bc/bc_1.7.0.js></scr" + "ipt>"); </script><script type="text/javascript"> if (window.yzq_a) { yzq_a('p', 'P=nyoTs0SOwhVy6kt2QvV2EQ.FRhtewkNM9dsABQ55&T=15f7 t1i6a%2fX%3d1129117147%2fE%3d57018335%2fR%3dnews%2 fK%3d5%2fV%3d1.1%2fW%3d8%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d3605178 95%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJuZXdzIiBjb250ZW50PSJ3aGl0Z TtpdDtJdCI-%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d2347BFD1'); yzq_a('a', '&U=139fconkl%2fN%3dLLlNH9G_RvM-%2fC%3d372203.7254479.8246041.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2 fB%3d3047069'); } </script><noscript>http://bc.us.yahoo.com/b?P=nyoTs0SOw...%2fB%3d3047069</noscript> "Some people want to make it a race thing," Davis said in an interview Tuesday. "I don't. That's demeaning to me."
Davis, 64, was to be in municipal court today to face charges of public intoxication and resisting arrest. The officers have pleaded not guilty to charges of simple battery. They were suspended without pay. The Justice Department is investigating whether Davis' civil rights were violated.
Davis said the officers should be fired. "They don't need to be on the force," he said. "It's not good for the city."
The city attorney and a spokesman for the police department did not return calls seeking comment on Tuesday.
Davis, who said he hasn't had a drink in 25 years, wants the charges dropped. His lawyer, Joseph Bruno, plans to seek a financial settlement. "He needs to be compensated, but that's not what this is all about." The issue, he said, is reforming the department "from the top to the bottom. Put some competent people in charge."
By and large, police have responded well to the devastation of Katrina, Bruno said. But a department that allows a "couple bad eggs" needs to be reformed, he said.
Saturday night's incident began when Davis left a restaurant in the city's French Quarter to smoke a cigarette, Davis said. He said he asked an officer about the city's curfew when he was interrupted by another. He said he was offended and told the officer so. That's when the scuffle, in which Davis was struck in the face and wrestled to the sidewalk by four officers, was captured by an Associated Press TV camera. Davis said his attire - shorts, T-shirt and sandals - might have been a factor. "This individual assumed I was one of the derelicts on Bourbon Street," he said.
Two officers have pleaded innocent to misdemeanor battery in Davis' beating. Their attorney has said Davis struck first.
The incident happened in one of the few parts of the city to survive Katrina relatively unscathed. Narrow, bawdy Bourbon Street is lined with bars, most of which have reopened. People may drink on the sidewalks if they use plastic cups. On Saturday night, Bourbon Street teemed with relief workers, soldiers and police officers.
"New Orleans is a place that has an open invitation to visitors," Bruno said. "And they should know that they're not putting themselves at risk when they come here."
I saw this on the news and was horrified!!!
Robert Davis, a retired black schoolteacher whose violent arrest by white New Orleans police officers was videotaped by news crews, believes the incident says more about post-Katrina chaos than it does about racism.
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td align="center">
</td></tr></tbody></table><script type="text/javascript"> if (window.yzq_a == null) document.write("<scr" + "ipt type=text/javascript src=""http://us.js1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/lib/bc/bc_1.7.0.js></scr" + "ipt>"); </script><script type="text/javascript"> if (window.yzq_a) { yzq_a('p', 'P=nyoTs0SOwhVy6kt2QvV2EQ.FRhtewkNM9dsABQ55&T=15f7 t1i6a%2fX%3d1129117147%2fE%3d57018335%2fR%3dnews%2 fK%3d5%2fV%3d1.1%2fW%3d8%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d3605178 95%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJuZXdzIiBjb250ZW50PSJ3aGl0Z TtpdDtJdCI-%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d2347BFD1'); yzq_a('a', '&U=139fconkl%2fN%3dLLlNH9G_RvM-%2fC%3d372203.7254479.8246041.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2 fB%3d3047069'); } </script><noscript>http://bc.us.yahoo.com/b?P=nyoTs0SOw...%2fB%3d3047069</noscript> "Some people want to make it a race thing," Davis said in an interview Tuesday. "I don't. That's demeaning to me."
Davis, 64, was to be in municipal court today to face charges of public intoxication and resisting arrest. The officers have pleaded not guilty to charges of simple battery. They were suspended without pay. The Justice Department is investigating whether Davis' civil rights were violated.
Davis said the officers should be fired. "They don't need to be on the force," he said. "It's not good for the city."
The city attorney and a spokesman for the police department did not return calls seeking comment on Tuesday.
Davis, who said he hasn't had a drink in 25 years, wants the charges dropped. His lawyer, Joseph Bruno, plans to seek a financial settlement. "He needs to be compensated, but that's not what this is all about." The issue, he said, is reforming the department "from the top to the bottom. Put some competent people in charge."
By and large, police have responded well to the devastation of Katrina, Bruno said. But a department that allows a "couple bad eggs" needs to be reformed, he said.
Saturday night's incident began when Davis left a restaurant in the city's French Quarter to smoke a cigarette, Davis said. He said he asked an officer about the city's curfew when he was interrupted by another. He said he was offended and told the officer so. That's when the scuffle, in which Davis was struck in the face and wrestled to the sidewalk by four officers, was captured by an Associated Press TV camera. Davis said his attire - shorts, T-shirt and sandals - might have been a factor. "This individual assumed I was one of the derelicts on Bourbon Street," he said.
Two officers have pleaded innocent to misdemeanor battery in Davis' beating. Their attorney has said Davis struck first.
The incident happened in one of the few parts of the city to survive Katrina relatively unscathed. Narrow, bawdy Bourbon Street is lined with bars, most of which have reopened. People may drink on the sidewalks if they use plastic cups. On Saturday night, Bourbon Street teemed with relief workers, soldiers and police officers.
"New Orleans is a place that has an open invitation to visitors," Bruno said. "And they should know that they're not putting themselves at risk when they come here."
I saw this on the news and was horrified!!!
