NEW ORLEANS — A trial opens this week for five current or former New Orleans police officers charged in deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina.
Jury selection begins Wednesday in the federal case involving the killing of two people and wounding of four others on the Danziger Bridge in one of the darkest chapters in the chaos after the 2005 storm.
It's a case that stunned a city with a long history of police corruption.
One officer is accused of shooting a mentally disabled man in the back before a sergeant stomped on him. Prosecutors say the same sergeant fired on unarmed people lying on the ground. Officers also are charged with plotting to plant a gun, fabricate witnesses and falsify reports to justify the shootings.
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