Son sues over Katrina wheelchair death

[deadparrot]

NEW ORLEANS - The son of an 91-year-old woman who died slumped in her wheelchair after Hurricane Katrina — an image that came to symbolize the government's slow response to the catastrophic storm — sued the city and state Thursday.

Herbert Freeman Jr. accuses numerous state agencies and the city of New Orleans of gross negligence and willful misconduct in the death of his mother, Ethel Freeman. He claims he was ordered by New Orleans police to seek shelter at the city's convention center, even though no aid was available and there was no way out.

"Let's not forget, she survived the storm. The storm didn't get her. She didn't survive the rescue," said John Paul Massicot, an attorney representing the family.

The lawsuit, filed in state Civil District Court in New Orleans, seeks unspecified monetary damages.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060818/ap_on_re_us/katrina_victim_lawsuit

[babylonsister]

1. Good. I want these stories emphasized. It wasn't right, and

it still is not. This admin fucked up; they should be held accountable.

[UpInArms]

2. :(

Katrina: "People Need To See This...People Are Dying At The Convention Center"

CNN correspondent Chris Lawrence is disgusted by the scenes in downtown:

"It's hard to describe. It's something I never could conceive of ever seeing in a major city like New Orleans. It is hard to believe, you know, this is New Orleans, Louisiana, we're talking about.

We spent the last few hours at the convention center, where there are thousands of people just laying in the street. They have nowhere to go. These are mothers. We saw mothers. We talked to mothers holding babies. I mean, some of these babies, 3, 4, 5 months old, living in these horrible conditions. Putrid food on the ground, sewage, their feet sitting in sewage. We saw feces on the ground. It is -- these people are being forced to live like animals.

...I want to warn you, I mean, some of these images that you will see, they're very, very graphic. But people need to see this. The people down there have been down there for days, and people need to see what it is really like down here.

We saw dead bodies. People are dying at the convention center, and there's no one to come get them. We saw an older woman, someone's mother, someone's grandmother in a wheelchair, her dead body pushed up against the side of the convention center, with a blanket over it. Right on the ground next to her, another dead body, wrapped in a white sheet.



...more...

[Warpy]

3. A picture of Mrs. Freeman haunts me still

Her wheelchair was parked on a scruffy patch of grass next to a tree that had its leaves blown off by the storm, There was a robe in her lap, her clothing was clean and mended and she looked like people loved her enough to take good care of her.

And she was dead.

[mnhtnbb]

4. Not suing the feds? The damn Army Corps of Engineers is responsible

for the levees giving way. The gd Bush Administration is responsible for taking away FEMA's responsibility to prepare for disasters. The Bush Administration is responsible for budget cuts--for taking the National Guard out of LA for their fiasco in Iraq.

What the hell? Why not sue the Feds?

[pitohui]

5. he probably can't -- prob. technical reason

technical reasons why it is almost impossible to sue federal officers in the performance of their duty

everybody in the area would be suing army corps of engineers for one reason or another were we allowed to, believe you me

by the way people, if you want these stories discussed, don't forget to kick and recommend on your way out

[moc]

10. Read the whole article; he is suing the feds.

His lawyer said he plans to file a second lawsuit on Freeman's behalf in federal court against the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. He should go after FEMA's boss too. Is that possible?

[pitohui]

23. he plans to

the plans may or may not go forward

[aaronbees]

6. Important ... K&R....

"She didn't survive the rescue." It's unbelievable and unconscionable this was allowed to happen. And he was ordered at gunpoint to leave her body? What kind of country is this? I hope he's been able to find some peace since ... I don't think I could.

[drm604]

7. K&R

:kick:

[saigon68]

8. The storm didn't get her. She didn't survive the rescue

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

12. oh look, we have a visitor... and he thinks he's being clever.

How many times are you gonna post that?

[gorbal]

11. This is the part of the article that reall gets me

Once they reached the shelter, they found teeming crowds and no food, water, medical supplies or buses. A police officer told Freeman to park his mother outside because buses were on the way.

"He told me, 'We'll put her outside so that she can be first in line.' I said 'How long will it be?' He said, 'Maybe an hour. Maybe two,'" Freeman said.

They waited outside in the searing heat for nearly 24 hours before she succumbed on Sept. 1, Freeman said.

"I tried to shake her. I tried to look to see if she was breathing. I checked on her neck. I even tried to push on her chest to get her to come back. I was howling, 'Ma! Ma! Wake up!'" he said.

For four days, Freeman watched over her body before he was ordered at gunpoint to leave her, after buses finally arrived, he said. Another evacuee had given him a poncho, which he lay over his elderly mother, covering her face.

He stayed with her until the end, and then four days after she died. If you just read the first part of the article you might think he just left her.

[Barrett808]

20. "Ordered at gunpoint to leave her"?

Is that for real?

[pitohui]

24. heat index of 108 degrees in the days after the storm

w.out pretty much immediate rescue she was condemned to die

a horrible tragedy and fema has many questions to answer, at least the police officers were here trying to do something despite the lack of supplies provided to them

[Mnemosyne]

13. KnR Too sad. n/t

[KittyWampus]

14. Didn't Survive The Rescue? What Rescue?

[elehhhhna]

16. She died form neglect. What a country.

[kineneb]

18. America: of, by, and for the wealthy only

and screw the rest of you...
...just like the Gilded Age.

I Want My Country Back.:cry:

[elehhhhna]

19. huh? wheelchairs don't come w/ bootstraps? oh well. yawn.

[lonestarnot]

17. Remembering her image infuriates me all over again.

[AnneD]

21. Good for him...

it was murder by neglect. If they can pin that charge on Docs and Nurses that were trying to do the best they could in the face of government failure....then they damn sure can charge some of those incompetents in government.

[AX10]

22. I hope he puts those "authorities" who did this out on the street.