Court explores New Orleans evacuees' right to cross bridge; Gretna, police chief face Katrina lawsuit
/From The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
By Paul Purpura, West Bank bureau
Did Gretna police violate the constitutional right to travel of people trying to flee flooded New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina by crossing the Crescent City Connection, only to be turned back by an armed blockade?
It's a question U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon is considering, after hearing arguments Wednesday in one of two lawsuits filed against the city of Gretna, Police Chief Authur Lawson, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Harry Lee, for their decision to lock down the bridge on Sept. 1, 2005, three days after the storm passed.
Franz Ziblich, attorney for Gretna and Lawson, asked Lemmon to toss out the right to travel element of the lawsuit, arguing that police were within their right to close the bridge, particularly amid a state of emergency. And while the storm victims' plight was unfortunate, the people trying to flee had other means of getting out of the city besides the West Bank, namely an Uptown route to East Jefferson, Ziblich said.
Adele Owen, a Baton Rouge attorney for Tracy and Dorothy Dickerson of New Orleans who sued law enforcement officials on Dec. 22, 2005, said Gretna's decision was wrong and amounted to false imprisonment, another violation of constitutional rights. The Dickersons are seeking unspecified damages.
Ziblich argued that constitutional and federal law allows for free interstate travel, or going from state to state, but it is silent on travel within the state. Hence, he said, the plaintiffs' assertion that their rights were violated on the point is not a federal question.
"Hundreds" of other people had been allowed to cross the bridge before the blockade, and West Bank police helped get them to safe haven, Ziblich said. The decision to close the bridge was made afterward to quell lawlessness and because Gretna had nothing to offer the evacuees, he said.
"There was looting," Ziblich said. "Oakwood mall was on fire, and people crossed previously and were doing all sorts of bad things. . . . How are we going to protect our people in light of all that was going on?"
Owen said the right to travel is a constitutional guarantee, whether within a state or across state lines.
"You can't have one without the other," she told Lemmon. "We have a fundamental right to intrastate travel as we do to interstate travel."
She lambasted Gretna police for what she said was a decision to protect property over human lives.
"The people on that bridge hadn't had water in days," Owen said. "They hadn't had food in days. They hadn't had sanitary conditions in days," and there were shootings taking place in the city.
People trying to cross the bridge, mostly African-Americans, were too poor and lacked transportation to evacuate by vehicle, according to the lawsuit. They were met by "threatening, violent and abusive conduct" by police on the bridge, some of whom fired gunshots over their heads, according to the lawsuit.
Owen said the people "were not planning to camp out in Gretna," but were looking for safe passage out of New Orleans. Some of the people, she said, were tourists seeking to leave the state, and that affected interstate travel.
Asked by Lemmon where the people went after being turned away, Owen did not know. "Some of them may have turned back. I'm not sure," she said.
In a separate argument, Ziblich said the plaintiffs' deadline to file for class-action certification was not met, speculating that a second, nearly identical lawsuit was filed in an attempt to meet the deadline. He also argued that the case doesn't meet class-action requirements.
Lemmon gave no indication when she would rule on Wednesday's arguments, which did not involve attorneys for the Sheriff's Office and Lee.
The trial in the Dickerson case is tentatively set for June.
The second lawsuit was filed Aug. 29, by state Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge; state Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans; and other attorneys, who also sued on behalf of the Dickersons.
The second set of plaintiffs are Nina Alexander, Jocelyn Askew, Quinton Askew, Frances B. Bowie, Signora Durrett and Patryce Jenkins.
Both cases have been allotted to Lemmon's court, though they have not been consolidated.
This marked the second time Gretna has sought to have the lawsuit tossed out. Last year, Ziblich argued that the plaintiffs failed to point out a specific municipal policy that violated their civil rights. Lemmon declined to dismiss the lawsuit in May.
Did Gretna police violate the constitutional right to travel of people trying to flee flooded New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina by crossing the Crescent City Connection, only to be turned back by an armed blockade?
It's a question U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon is considering, after hearing arguments Wednesday in one of two lawsuits filed against the city of Gretna, Police Chief Authur Lawson, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Harry Lee, for their decision to lock down the bridge on Sept. 1, 2005, three days after the storm passed.
Franz Ziblich, attorney for Gretna and Lawson, asked Lemmon to toss out the right to travel element of the lawsuit, arguing that police were within their right to close the bridge, particularly amid a state of emergency. And while the storm victims' plight was unfortunate, the people trying to flee had other means of getting out of the city besides the West Bank, namely an Uptown route to East Jefferson, Ziblich said.
Adele Owen, a Baton Rouge attorney for Tracy and Dorothy Dickerson of New Orleans who sued law enforcement officials on Dec. 22, 2005, said Gretna's decision was wrong and amounted to false imprisonment, another violation of constitutional rights. The Dickersons are seeking unspecified damages.
Ziblich argued that constitutional and federal law allows for free interstate travel, or going from state to state, but it is silent on travel within the state. Hence, he said, the plaintiffs' assertion that their rights were violated on the point is not a federal question.
"Hundreds" of other people had been allowed to cross the bridge before the blockade, and West Bank police helped get them to safe haven, Ziblich said. The decision to close the bridge was made afterward to quell lawlessness and because Gretna had nothing to offer the evacuees, he said.
"There was looting," Ziblich said. "Oakwood mall was on fire, and people crossed previously and were doing all sorts of bad things. . . . How are we going to protect our people in light of all that was going on?"
Owen said the right to travel is a constitutional guarantee, whether within a state or across state lines.
"You can't have one without the other," she told Lemmon. "We have a fundamental right to intrastate travel as we do to interstate travel."
She lambasted Gretna police for what she said was a decision to protect property over human lives.
"The people on that bridge hadn't had water in days," Owen said. "They hadn't had food in days. They hadn't had sanitary conditions in days," and there were shootings taking place in the city.
People trying to cross the bridge, mostly African-Americans, were too poor and lacked transportation to evacuate by vehicle, according to the lawsuit. They were met by "threatening, violent and abusive conduct" by police on the bridge, some of whom fired gunshots over their heads, according to the lawsuit.
Owen said the people "were not planning to camp out in Gretna," but were looking for safe passage out of New Orleans. Some of the people, she said, were tourists seeking to leave the state, and that affected interstate travel.
Asked by Lemmon where the people went after being turned away, Owen did not know. "Some of them may have turned back. I'm not sure," she said.
In a separate argument, Ziblich said the plaintiffs' deadline to file for class-action certification was not met, speculating that a second, nearly identical lawsuit was filed in an attempt to meet the deadline. He also argued that the case doesn't meet class-action requirements.
Lemmon gave no indication when she would rule on Wednesday's arguments, which did not involve attorneys for the Sheriff's Office and Lee.
The trial in the Dickerson case is tentatively set for June.
The second lawsuit was filed Aug. 29, by state Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge; state Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans; and other attorneys, who also sued on behalf of the Dickersons.
The second set of plaintiffs are Nina Alexander, Jocelyn Askew, Quinton Askew, Frances B. Bowie, Signora Durrett and Patryce Jenkins.
Both cases have been allotted to Lemmon's court, though they have not been consolidated.
This marked the second time Gretna has sought to have the lawsuit tossed out. Last year, Ziblich argued that the plaintiffs failed to point out a specific municipal policy that violated their civil rights. Lemmon declined to dismiss the lawsuit in May.
