[BITList] blockade suit

[CT's]

   ‘twas only this morning that I was wondering what happened to this case.................. 
        Finally a judge with some common sense.
        ct
              PS    some interpret “constitutional rights” to mean – I can do as I like, and you can’t stop me.
                        and site constitutional right is any real  or perceived slight. 
                        gross over use.      



      Crescent City Connection blockade lawsuit in federal court comes to an end
      Published: Tuesday, December 28, 2010, 7:05 PM 
      By Paul Rioux, The Times-Picayune 

      A federal judge has thrown out all remaining constitutional claims in a lawsuit against Gretna and Jefferson Parish law enforcement agencies for their decision to block stranded people from walking across the Crescent City Connection to the unflooded West Bank after Hurricane Katrina.

      View full sizeSusan Poag,The Times-Picayune archive

      Shelton Bruno and his mother, Janice Pierre, walk across the Crescent City Connection bridge toward a relative's house in Algiers on Aug. 31, 2005, after being told that no more people would be accepted at the Superdome in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The next day, Gretna, Jefferson Parish and Crescent City Connection police decided to prevent pedestrians from using the bridge. 
      Having dismissed about 90 percent of the claims in September, U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon recently rejected the rest, ending the suit filed on Katrina’s first anniversary.

      The plaintiffs, six individuals and a class of more than 200 Regional Transit Authority employees and their families, alleged that Gretna police and Jefferson Sheriff’s Office deputies violated their constitutional rights by firing warning shots and using excessive force while barring them from traversing the bridge to escape the flooded east bank.

      In an 11-page ruling signed Dec. 17, Lemmon called the blockade a “reasonable restriction” and cited “compelling safety and welfare” considerations, including heavy vehicular traffic on the bridge and the lack of food, water and shelter on the West Bank for evacuees.

      Attorneys for the defendants said the ruling vindicates Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson Jr. and Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, named as a defendant after Sheriff Harry Lee died.

      “The court has now unequivocally stated there were no constitutional violations or wrongdoing by Chief Lawson or any of his officers,” said Franz Zibilich, an attorney for Gretna Police.

      “Police chiefs should have the discretion and legal authority to limit travel during extremely difficult times after catastrophes such as Katrina,” Zibilich said.

      Lawson said the ruling backs his contention that the controversial blockade was “the correct and rational course of action.”

      “We had no food or water on the West Bank. Had the evacuees been allowed to cross the bridge, they would have been in a far worse situation without any transportation to bring them anywhere,” Lawson said. “If I were I faced with the same situation today, I would make the same decision.”






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