By MARY FOSTER and MIKE KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writers – 11 mins ago
NEW ORLEANS – Federal officials are charging a former New Orleans police lieutenant with conspiracy to obstruct justice in an investigation of killings by police officers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The charge was unsealed Wednesday and is part of a deal under which Michael Lohman has agreed to help in the investigation of a shooting by seven officers after the storm.
The shooting left two people dead and four others wounded at the Danziger Bridge.
The Justice Department's civil rights division opened a probe after a state judge threw out state charges of murder and attempted murder against the seven in 2008. Lohman was not one of the seven.
Ex-officer charged in Katrina bridge killing probe - Yahoo! News
Background details. Cops planted a gun, made unjustified arrests, shot unarmed people. The usual.
"The document states that Lohman was assigned to investigate the case while on the bridge on Sept. 4, and learned at that point that the officers involved planned to lie about the shooting. He also admits knowing that another officer planted a gun at the scene.
Lohman "also talked to some of the officers and sergeants involved in the shooting and learned that they planned to provide false stories about what had precipitated the shooting."
Lohman also "tacitly encouraged them to do so.""
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/02/police_investigator_encouraged.html