The D.A. and the NOPD Working Hand in Hand

Make that fist to fist.

The D.A. announces indictments in the Danziger Bridge shootings on Wednesday. Seven NOPD officers are indicted on first-degree, attempted first-degree, and/or attempted second-degree murder. The D.A. adds this to his announcement:

"We cannot allow our police officers to shoot and kill our citizens without justification like rabid dogs," District Attorney Eddie Jordan said.

Superintendent Warren Riley hears this and the next day responds:

Riley called Jordan's comments "highly unprofessional, highly prejudicial and highly undignified."

"We want justice first and foremost ... but for the district attorney to try and prejudice the community against these officers before all the evidence is heard is really, I think, a sad day for the city."

So, the D.A. is saying “our police officers” are acting like “rabid dogs” and Riley is calling the D.A. “highly unprofessional” and that the D.A.’s actions are a “sad day for the city.”

Just another week in the NOLA criminal justice system.

This is how it is supposed to work. The NOPD arrests the bad guy. The D.A. tries to put the bad guy in jail. The courts make sure the bad guy really is the bad guy and not the wrong guy.

Can that system work when two of the three parts can’t seem to get along?

Meanwhile, in Gotham City:

Two New Orleans men were killed in separate shootings Thursday, including a prominent New Orleans musician slain while driving through Mid-City with his wife and two children, a police spokesman said.

Dinerral Shavers, 25, died from a gunshot to the back of his head at about 5:30 p.m. while behind the wheel of his black Chevrolet Malibu in the 2200 block of Dumaine Street, police said.

And on Friday:

A 17-year-old boy who was feuding with the 15-year-old stepson of a New Orleans musician was arrested Friday in the shooting death of the musician inside the family car on Thursday, police said.

David Bonds, 17, is accused of fatally shooting Dinerral Shavers, 25, a snare drummer for the Hot 8 Brass Band and a band teacher at L.E. Rabouin High School.

Now, the “rabid dogs” of the NOPD turn David Bonds’ case over to the “highly unprofessional” D.A. with hopes of a conviction.

My question: Will our criminal justice system work in this case? If it fails, who will it fail for? Dinerral Shavers? David Bonds? Both?

If it fails for one of us – any one of us – it fails for all of us.

Where's Batman when you need him?