Original on Daily Kos.
The old guy wasn’t drunk. And he was a retired New Orleans schoolteacher.
Robert Davis said he had returned to New Orleans to check on property his family owns in the storm-ravaged city, and was out looking to buy cigarettes when he was beaten and arrested Saturday night in the French Quarter.
Police have alleged that the 64-year-old Davis was publicly intoxicated, a charge he strongly denied as he stood on the street corner where the incident played out Saturday.
“I haven’t had a drink in 25 years,” Davis said. He had stitches beneath his left eye, a bandage on his left hand and complained of soreness in his back and aches in his left shoulder.
New Orleans cops, imho, have issues. And that is putting it mildly.
Davis–and his attorney–doesn’t think that the attack was about race. But he still doesn’t understand why he was hit in the back of the head.
Davis said he had been walking in the French Quarter and approached a mounted police officer to ask about the curfew in the city when another officer interrupted.
“This other guy interfered and I said he shouldn’t,” Davis said. “I started to cross the street and — bam — I got it. … All I know is this guy attacked me and said, `I will kick your ass,’ and they proceeded to do it.”
Normally, a sixty-four year old guy is no fool. Of any race. He’s not someone looking for an opportunity to act up. And certainly not with some cops/Federal agents/Guard/Blackwater mercs. If he is a former New Orleans schoolteacher, then he knows how to speak to people: to ask questions politely and moderately and then go about his business.
This guy could have been my stepfather, who will be returning himself to New Orleans to see about damage to his home(s). He is 72.
Just what was Davis ‘interfering with’ before the video cameras rolled?
Two city officers accused in the beating, and a third officer accused of grabbing and shoving an Associated Press Television News producer who helped document the confrontation, pleaded not guilty Monday to battery charges.
Trial was set at a hearing Monday for Jan. 11. Afterward, officers Lance Schilling, Robert Evangelist and S.M. Smith were released on bond. They left without commenting.
Of course, the NO police union chief says Schilling, Smith and Evangelist were confident that they ‘justified’ in banging Davis up.
