New Orleans police gun down mentally ill man

Eyewitnesses expressed anger over the fatal use of force given the victim’s apparent illness. They said that Hayes was a familiar, but solitary, figure in the neighborhood. Michelle Dawson, a Burger King employee, said that Hayes would spend hours at a table in the restaurant talking to himself without bothering other customers.

Phin Percy, a professional videographer, shot a videotape from a second-story window that shows Hayes slowly backpedaling up the street, keeping his distance from police. He is wielding a small knife in his right hand, as more than a dozen policeman keep pace, their guns aimed at the man.

Monique Champagne, who had arrived from Austin, Texas, to visit her damaged home, also filmed part of the prelude to the shooting. “There were so many cops there I thought, surely, this guy just shot a cop,” said Champagne. She described the scene in which bystanders begged Hayes to surrender and police not to shoot.

“At first it was real quiet and slow, then faster and faster as more cops showed up. Then one gun went off and then a whole bunch went off.... I think it was injustice.... That guy shouldn’t have died. Just a shame,” she said.

Robert Stickney, a shop owner who watched part of the confrontation through his store’s picture window, stated, “It’s just a shame they had to kill him.”

A patron at a nearby bar, Trey Brokaw, told reporters: “I didn’t see anyone near him. It didn’t seem like anyone was going to get hurt.”

Responding to questions as to why officers, given their overwhelming force, could not have wounded Hayes in the legs (or simply waited for him to drop the knife), New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley justified the killing. He told Associated Press the officers would have betrayed their training if they had aimed to fire a non-lethal shot. He further stated that officers are trained to treat knife attacks as deadly force and are not schooled in disarming suspects with knives using hand-to-hand combat.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/norl-d29.shtml