Citizen Crime Watch Blog

Judge Seeber Bridge repairs under way
by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune
Saturday June 21, 2008, 1:45 PM

Workers install a new motor which will power a metal traffic barrier on the Judge Seeber Bridge over the Industrial Canal in the ninth ward. The long-broken barriers contributed to the accident in which a veteran NOPD officer plunged to his death. The repairs will take a couple of days.

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Police, family pay respects to officer
Felix lauded for bravery, dedication
Thursday, May 29, 2008
By Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune

At an emotional funeral service, members of the New Orleans Police Department on Wednesday remembered Detective Tommie Felix as a devoted police officer who always took it upon himself to go after the bad guys, even if it meant risking his life.

Detective Gabriel Favaroth, a longtime friend who attended the NOPD police academy with Felix, called him a beloved prankster, but one who could balance levity with serious police business.

“If we had one (Tommie) in each district, the world would be a better place,” said Favaroth, who choked up during his eulogy, remembering his friend and former partner.

Felix, who joined the department in 1991, died early in the morning on May 20 when his car plummeted into the Industrial Canal because of a series of mechanical and operational breakdowns at the Claiborne Avenue drawbridge.

His death marks the fourth death in the past seven months within NOPD ranks. Officer Nicola Cotton was killed in late January after a confrontation with a man in a parking lot. Sgt. Thelonious Dukes died a month after he was shot by a robber during what police have described as a home invasion. Rookie officer Matthew Schmit was killed in a car accident in December, just a few days after graduating from the police academy.

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Officer’s killer deemed insane
Appeals judges uphold lower court ruling
Saturday, May 31, 2008
By Laura Maggi
Staff writer

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week upheld a lower federal court decision overturning the life sentence of a Texas man who killed a New Orleans police officer in 1996, concluding that Salvador Perez was insane at the time of the shooting and should not have been found guilty of first-degree murder.

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Fourth suspect convicted in robbery in which cop died
Man found guilty on all counts; three other men already in prison
Thursday, May 15, 2008
By Gwen Filosa
The Times-Picayune

Almost six years after a New Orleans police officer was fatally shot outside a St. Roch bar, the last of four suspects will be sent to prison for his role in the ambush.

An Orleans Parish jury convicted Michael Davis, 37, on all three counts of armed robbery with a firearm after one hour and 20 minutes of deliberations.

Davis, a four-time convicted felon, faces up to 198 years in prison on each count. Judge Julian Parker will sentence him.

The guilty-as-charged verdict, based on three 11-1 votes by the jury Wednesday evening, ends a case that forced the victim’s family and friends to spend nearly six years attending court hearings and listening to the ghastly details of officer Christopher Russell’s last moments.

Russell, 35, was shot in the head in August 2002 after unwittingly driving up to the scene of an armed robbery at a St. Roch bar. Inside Club Tango, four men had forced patrons at gunpoint to strip and hand over cash and jewelry, threatening to kill anyone who resisted.

When the police cruiser pulled up outside, lights flashing, the gunmen panicked and fled, but not before ensuring that the officer, who was dispatched to the scene without being told that it was a crime in progress, could not pursue.

Russell’s family, including his widow, who was pregnant with their son when the New Orleans native was gunned down, returned to Orleans Parish Criminal District Court for the final trial connected to the 2002 killing. The three other suspects had already been convicted and are serving long prison sentences.

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ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
In an annual ritual of grief and pride, the NOPD pays tribute to its officers’ acts of selfless service
Friday, May 09, 2008
By Brendan McCarthy
Staff writer

The 21-gun salute sent shudders through Lynette Dukes and brought tears to her eyes.

Upon seeing his mother’s eyes well, 7-year-old Jalil Dukes started crying, too. Both clutched tissues, thinking of their lost family member, New Orleans Police Sgt. Thelonious Dukes.

Sitting front and center, the Dukes family took part Thursday in the NOPD’s annual police memorial, a solemn event that underscores the sacrifices made daily by its officers. “On this day, we, as a family, salute their families,” Deputy Chief Anthony Canatella said in his opening remarks.

The ceremony, one of many events held nationally to commemorate officers killed in the line of duty, coincides with Police Memorial Week.

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