New Orleans: Even a cop joins in the looting

Law enforcement efforts to contain the emergency left by Katrina slipped into chaos in parts of New Orleans Tuesday with some police officers and firefighters joining looters in picking stores clean. Even a cop joins in the looting

Mike Perlstein and Brian Thevenot
Times-Picayune Staff writers

Law enforcement efforts to contain the emergency left by Katrina
slipped into chaos in parts of New Orleans Tuesday with some police officers
and firefighters joining looters in picking stores clean.

At the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, an initial effort to hand out
provisions to stranded citizens quickly disintegrated into mass
looting. Authorities at the scene said bedlam erupted after the giveaway was
announced over the radio.

While many people carried out food and essential supplies, others
cleared out jewelry racks and carted out computers, TVs and appliances on
handtrucks.

Some officers joined in taking whatever they could, including one New
Orleans cop who loaded a shopping cart with a compact computer and a
27-inchn flat-screen television.
Officers claimed there was nothing they could do to contain the
anarchy, saying their radio communications have broken down and they had no
direction from commanders.

“We don’t have enough cops to stop it,” an officer said. “A mass riot
would break out if you tried.”

Inside the store, the scene alternated between celebration and
frightening bedlam. A shirtless man straddled a broken jewelry case,
yelling, “Free samples, free samples over here.”

Another man rolled a mechanized pallet, stacked six feet high with
cases of vodka and whiskey.
Perched atop the stack was a bewildered toddler.

Throughout the store and parking lot, looters pushed carts and loaded
trucks and vans alongside officers. One man said police directed him to
Wal-Mart from Robert’s Grocery, where a similar scene was taking place.
A crowd in the electronics section said one officer broke the glass DVD
case so people wouldn’t cut themselves.

“The police got all the best stuff. They’re crookeder than us,” one man
said.

Most officers, though, simply stood by powerless against the tide of
law-breakers.

One veteran officer said, “It’s like this everywhere in the city. This
tiny number of cops can’t do anything about this. It’s wide open.”

At least one officer tried futilely to control a looter through shame.

“When they say take what you need, that doesn’t mean an f-ing TV,” the
officer shouted to a looter. “This is a hurricane, not a free-for-all.”

Sandra Smith of Baton Rouge walked through the parking lot with a
12-pack of Bud Light under each arm.
“I came down here to get my daughters,” she said, “but I can’t find
them.”

The scene turned so chaotic at times that entrances were blocked by the
press of people and shopping carts and traffic jams sprouted on
surrounding streets.

Some groups organized themselves into assembly lines to more
efficiently cart off goods.

Toni Williams, 25, packed her trunk with essential supplies, such as
food and water, but said mass looting disgusted and frightened her.

“I didn’t feel safe. Some people are going overboard,” she said.

Inside the store, one woman was stocking up on make-up. She said she
took comfort in watching police load up their own carts.

“It must be legal,” she said. “The police are here taking stuff, too.”
(Staff writers Doug MacCash and Keith Spera assisted in this story.)

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