[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 530 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 530

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning the 
actions of the Gretna Police Department, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's 
  Department and all officers under their command who closed to foot 
 traffic the Greater New Orleans Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane 
Katrina and prevented hundreds of citizens from evacuating the City of 
New Orleans, and recognizing that at all times and especially during a 
   time of national crisis, that all citizens should be treated in a 
              lawful manner and with dignity and respect.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 2, 2005

 Ms. Waters submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning the 
actions of the Gretna Police Department, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's 
  Department and all officers under their command who closed to foot 
 traffic the Greater New Orleans Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane 
Katrina and prevented hundreds of citizens from evacuating the City of 
New Orleans, and recognizing that at all times and especially during a 
   time of national crisis, that all citizens should be treated in a 
              lawful manner and with dignity and respect.

Whereas on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane, hit 
        Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama;
Whereas a category 5 hurricane, as defined by the National Hurricane Center's 
        Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, has winds of 156 mph or greater, can 
        cause complete roof failure on many buildings, and/or can cause complete 
        building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away, and/
        or cause flooding to structures near the shoreline and/or may require 
        massive evacuation of residential areas;
Whereas on August 26, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco declared a state of 
        emergency;
Whereas on August 27, residents of Louisiana's low-lying areas were told that 
        they must evacuate and Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans advised people to 
        leave the city;
Whereas on the same day, President Bush declared a state of emergency in 
        Louisiana;
Whereas on August 28, as winds reached 175 mph, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin 
        ordered mandatory evacuations;
Whereas on August 29, 2 major flood-control levees were breached and a section 
        of the roof of the Louisiana Superdome, where people had taken refuge, 
        opened;
Whereas many were feared dead in flooded neighborhoods which were under as much 
        as 20 feet of water;
Whereas on August 30, Mayor Nagin estimated that 80 percent of the City was 
        underwater and much of New Orleans was left with no power, no drinking 
        water, and dwindling food supplies;
Whereas conditions at the Superdome and the Convention Center deteriorated as 
        people were without food, water, clothing, or medical care;
Whereas New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin urged people stranded in New Orleans to 
        evacuate the city;
Whereas the Crescent City Connection, more commonly known as the Greater New 
        Orleans Bridge, is the major artery out of New Orleans, is approximately 
        10 miles from the Louisiana Superdome and was accessible to the 
        residents who were traveling on foot;
Whereas the bridge and Gretna, Louisiana, the city on the other side of the 
        bridge, were dry;
Whereas a group of approximately 200 citizens were told that they could not 
        enter into the city's 2 main shelters, the Louisiana Superdome and the 
        Convention Center, due to lack of space and unsanitary conditions;
Whereas this group camped outside the police command center at Harrah's on Canal 
        Street where they would be highly visible until buses or some other 
        means of evacuating the city arrived;
Whereas the Police Commander at the command center told the group that they 
        should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the Greater New 
        Orleans Bridge where the police had buses to take them out of the city;
Whereas the group told the Commander that they had been given misinformation in 
        the past concerning buses and therefore wanted assurance that buses 
        would be there and were then told by the Commander that ``I swear to you 
        that the buses are there'';
Whereas the group began traveling toward the Pontchartrain Expressway towards 
        the bridge;
Whereas these citizens approached the bridge and were met by armed police 
        officers from the Gretna Police Department and the Jefferson Parish 
        Sheriff's Department who formed a line across the bridge to prevent 
        passage;
Whereas the police officers began firing their weapons causing many of the 
        citizens to flee back into New Orleans while a small number of citizens 
        remained and questioned the police officers about their refusal to allow 
        passage across the bridge;
Whereas the citizens were told that they could not cross the bridge and enter 
        into the City of Gretna because the ``West Bank was not going to become 
        New Orleans and that there would be no Superdomes in their city;''
Whereas the armed officers shut down the bridge and closed to foot traffic the 
        three access points to the bridge, thereby denying the citizens the 
        ability to cross the bridge;
Whereas the bridge was only closed to those evacuees who did not have vehicles 
        and were traveling on foot while remaining open to those traveling in 
        automobiles;
Whereas 23.7 percent of families and 27.9 percent of individuals living in New 
        Orleans live below the poverty level and many residents do not own 
        vehicles;
Whereas the Chief of the Gretna Police Department, Arthur Lawson, Jr., confirmed 
        with the United Press International that he ``shut down the bridge'' and 
        further stated that ``If we had opened the bridge, our city would have 
        looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged'';
Whereas Chief Lawson stated that his ``officers acted in the manner they were 
        instructed to'' and defended his decision to close the bridge to 
        evacuees;
Whereas after being denied access to the bridge, some of the citizens built an 
        encampment on the center divide of the bridge between the O'Keefe and 
        Tchoupitoulas exits;
Whereas as dusk set in, a Gretna police officer showed up, jumped out of his 
        patrol vehicle, aimed a gun at the faces of the evacuees, yelled 
        obscenities and screamed at them to get off the freeway;
Whereas a helicopter arrived and deliberately used the wind from its blades to 
        destroy the structures the citizens had built for shelter and as the 
        citizens retreated a Gretna officer confiscated for their own use the 
        food and water that had been collected by the evacuees;
Whereas the group that attempted to cross the bridge was predominantly African-
        American and consisted of the young, elderly, people on crutches, people 
        using walkers, and babies in strollers;
Whereas after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, New York police 
        officers selflessly rendered aid to citizens and upheld their duty to 
        protect and serve all citizens that needed assistance during that 
        national crisis, not just those who may have lived in their 
        jurisdiction;
Whereas these actions are in sharp contrast to the actions of the Gretna police 
        officers who neither protected nor served those citizens seeking 
        assistance during the national crisis stemming from Hurricane Katrina;
Whereas the use of guns, the pointing of live ammunition at women and children 
        and the firing of those guns over the heads of unarmed, harmless 
        citizens trying to evacuate an uninhabitable city was in the United 
        States where freedom and the fundamental rights of all citizens is 
        highly valued;
Whereas every United States citizen is entitled to equal treatment under the 
        laws and should be treated with respect and dignity;
Whereas the constitutional rights of the citizens were violated by the actions 
        of the Gretna Police Department and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's 
        Department; and
Whereas these actions occurred during a time of national crisis when the 
        assistance of every governmental entity was needed to preserve the 
        health, life, and well-being of the evacuees: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns in the strongest terms the actions of the 
        Gretna Police Department and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's 
        Department;
            (2) declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of 
        all individuals should be protected, especially during a time 
        of national crisis;
            (3) calls upon local, State, and Federal authorities to 
        work to prevent bias and racial insensitivity and to adopt laws 
        and procedures that will protect the civil liberties of its 
        citizens, especially during a terrorist attack, national 
        disaster, or other time of national crisis;
            (4) urges the United States--
                    (A) to condemn the actions of the Gretna Police 
                Department; and
                    (B) to initiate an investigation through the 
                Department of Justice into possible misconduct by the 
                Gretna Police Department and its officials.
                                 <all>