Police, Insurgents Battle in NOLA – Episode 2

Police supervisor encouraged cover-up, knew officer planted gun while still on Danziger Bridge

Lt. Michael Lohman, a supervisor who led the detective unit that first investigated the shooting of six people on the Danziger Bridge after Hurricane Katrina, has been charged with one count of conspiring to obstruct justice in a bill of information that was unsealed today.

He is expected to plead guilty in a court hearing early this afternoon, after which U.S. Attorney Jim Letten has scheduled a press conference.

Lohman also participated in a plan to plant a gun at the scene, the bill of information says. The investigating officer told him that he planned to place a gun under the bridge, and Lohman “asked whether the investigator knew that the gun was ‘clean,’ meaning it could not be traced back to another crime.” The investigator said it was, and “Lohman went along with the plan.”

In addition, Lohman signed off on a report that said the investigator found the gun under the bridge on Sept. 5, the bill of information says. In fact, the document says, Lohman was so “frustrated” with the implausibility of the initial report that he “personally drafted” a 17-page replacement that included “numerous false facts.”

Six people were shot on the eastern New Orleans bridge on the morning of Sept. 4, 2005. Two men died, while four others suffered serious wounds.

From just after the shooting, New Orleans police officials portrayed the incident as a gun battle between armed citizens and police officers. But the surviving victims told a very different story, saying they were not armed and were attacked by the officers, some who were carrying not only their .40 caliber handguns but personal weapons, including a shot gun and two AK-47s.