Apparently, It's Legal to Shoot at Black Civilians to Keep Them From Evacuating

The Times-Picayune announced on Friday that the US Department of Justice will not be pursuing charges against the Gretna police officers who fired at New Orleans civilians as they attempted to evacuate in the aftermath in Hurricane Katrina. From the article:

The US Department of Justice announced Friday that those law enforcement officers who barred pedestrians from crossing the Crescent City Connection in the hectic days after Hurricane Katrina will not face federal prosecution. After a review of Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti's investigation into the incident, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division found the bridge had been blocked for public safety reasons and that there was no sufficient evidence to prove that the officers intentionally broke the law...

Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson...said Friday that he felt vindicated by the Civil Rights Division's decision to end the investigation. "I'm certainly pleased that the Justice Department as well said that we didn't do anything wrong, because we've felt from the beginning that we didn't," Lawson said.

Photo above: Civil Rights marchers attacked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.