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One small step for American justice

This is an amazing story out of New Orleans, nearly five years after the horrors of Katrina. The thin blue line almost never cracks, but it did today:

On the east side of the bridge, the officers encountered six civilians (five members of the B Family, and J. B., a friend of the B Family), who were walking across the bridge to get food and supplies from a supermarket. The officers fired at the group of civilians, killing J. B. and seriously wounding four members of the B Family.

Officers then traveled to the west side of the bridge, where they encountered Lance and Ronald Madison, who were crossing the bridge to visit the dentistry office of one of their other brothers. An officer shot and killed Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old severely disabled man.

When Lohman arrived on the scene shortly after the shootings, he noticed that there were no guns on or near the dead and wounded civilians. After determining that the involved officers could not come up with any evidence to justify the shooting, he concluded that they had been involved in a "bad shoot."

Apparently, the Danziger Bridge case had been kicking around for all these years with all hopes for justice lost -- until Lohmann, a retired police lieutenant, agreed to plead guilty on conspiracy charges today. Nothing changes the fact that what Lohman and his colleagues did in September 2005 was unconscionable. But what he did today was one tiny step toward what America needs so, so much more of.

The truth.

(h/t Atrios)

Blogger's note: Everybody's working for the weekend, but I'll be working on gathering material for my book in another undisclosed location somewhere in these United States, where it will be not snowy and a bit warmer but not warm enough. My so-called weekend starts now, so see y'all Sunday.