IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 530 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning the actions 

of the Gretna Police Department, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department and all officers under their command who closed to foot traffic 

the Greater New Orleans Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 

and prevented hundreds of citizens from evacuating the City of New 

Orleans, and recognizing that at all times and especially during a time 

of national crisis, that all citizens should be treated in a lawful manner 

and with dignity and respect. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2005 

Ms. WATERS submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning the actions of the Gretna Police Department, 

the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department and all officers under their command who closed to foot traffic 

the Greater New Orleans Bridge in the aftermath of 

Hurricane Katrina and prevented hundreds of citizens 

from evacuating the City of New Orleans, and recognizing that at all times and especially during a time 

of national crisis, that all citizens should be treated 

in a lawful manner and with dignity and respect. 
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•HRES 530 IH 

Whereas on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a category 

5 hurricane, hit Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama; 

Whereas a category 5 hurricane, as defined by the National 

Hurricane Center’s Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, has 

winds of 156 mph or greater, can cause complete roof 

failure on many buildings, and/or can cause complete 

building failures with small utility buildings blown over or 

away, and/or cause flooding to structures near the shoreline and/or may require massive evacuation of residential 

areas; 

Whereas on August 26, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco 

declared a state of emergency; 

Whereas on August 27, residents of Louisiana’s low-lying 

areas were told that they must evacuate and Mayor Ray 

Nagin of New Orleans advised people to leave the city; 

Whereas on the same day, President Bush declared a state 

of emergency in Louisiana; 

Whereas on August 28, as winds reached 175 mph, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered mandatory evacuations; 

Whereas on August 29, 2 major flood-control levees were 

breached and a section of the roof of the Louisiana Superdome, where people had taken refuge, opened; 

Whereas many were feared dead in flooded neighborhoods 

which were under as much as 20 feet of water; 

Whereas on August 30, Mayor Nagin estimated that 80 percent of the City was underwater and much of New Orleans was left with no power, no drinking water, and dwindling food supplies; 
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Whereas conditions at the Superdome and the Convention 

Center deteriorated as people were without food, water, 

clothing, or medical care; 

Whereas New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin urged people stranded in New Orleans to evacuate the city; 

Whereas the Crescent City Connection, more commonly 

known as the Greater New Orleans Bridge, is the major 

artery out of New Orleans, is approximately 10 miles 

from the Louisiana Superdome and was accessible to the 

residents who were traveling on foot; 

Whereas the bridge and Gretna, Louisiana, the city on the 

other side of the bridge, were dry; 

Whereas a group of approximately 200 citizens were told that 

they could not enter into the city’s 2 main shelters, the 

Louisiana Superdome and the Convention Center, due to 

lack of space and unsanitary conditions; 

Whereas this group camped outside the police command center at Harrah’s on Canal Street where they would be 

highly visible until buses or some other means of evacuating the city arrived; 

Whereas the Police Commander at the command center told 

the group that they should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the Greater New Orleans Bridge 

where the police had buses to take them out of the city; 

Whereas the group told the Commander that they had been 

given misinformation in the past concerning buses and 

therefore wanted assurance that buses would be there 

and were then told by the Commander that ‘‘I swear to 

you that the buses are there’’; 

Whereas the group began traveling toward the Pontchartrain 

Expressway towards the bridge; 
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Whereas these citizens approached the bridge and were met 

by armed police officers from the Gretna Police Department and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department who 

formed a line across the bridge to prevent passage; 

Whereas the police officers began firing their weapons causing many of the citizens to flee back into New Orleans 

while a small number of citizens remained and questioned 

the police officers about their refusal to allow passage 

across the bridge; 

Whereas the citizens were told that they could not cross the 

bridge and enter into the City of Gretna because the 

‘‘West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and 

that there would be no Superdomes in their city;’’ 

Whereas the armed officers shut down the bridge and closed 

to foot traffic the three access points to the bridge, thereby denying the citizens the ability to cross the bridge; 

Whereas the bridge was only closed to those evacuees who did 

not have vehicles and were traveling on foot while remaining open to those traveling in automobiles; 

Whereas 23.7 percent of families and 27.9 percent of individuals living in New Orleans live below the poverty level 

and many residents do not own vehicles; 

Whereas the Chief of the Gretna Police Department, Arthur 

Lawson, Jr., confirmed with the United Press International that he ‘‘shut down the bridge’’ and further stated that ‘‘If we had opened the bridge, our city would 

have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned 

and pillaged’’; 

Whereas Chief Lawson stated that his ‘‘officers acted in the 

manner they were instructed to’’ and defended his decision to close the bridge to evacuees; 
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Whereas after being denied access to the bridge, some of the 

citizens built an encampment on the center divide of the 

bridge between the O’Keefe and Tchoupitoulas exits; 

Whereas as dusk set in, a Gretna police officer showed up, 

jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed a gun at the faces 

of the evacuees, yelled obscenities and screamed at them 

to get off the freeway; 

Whereas a helicopter arrived and deliberately used the wind 

from its blades to destroy the structures the citizens had 

built for shelter and as the citizens retreated a Gretna officer confiscated for their own use the food and water 

that had been collected by the evacuees; 

Whereas the group that attempted to cross the bridge was 

predominantly African-American and consisted of the 

young, elderly, people on crutches, people using walkers, 

and babies in strollers; 

Whereas after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 

New York police officers selflessly rendered aid to citizens 

and upheld their duty to protect and serve all citizens 

that needed assistance during that national crisis, not 

just those who may have lived in their jurisdiction; 

Whereas these actions are in sharp contrast to the actions of 

the Gretna police officers who neither protected nor 

served those citizens seeking assistance during the national crisis stemming from Hurricane Katrina; 

Whereas the use of guns, the pointing of live ammunition at 

women and children and the firing of those guns over the 

heads of unarmed, harmless citizens trying to evacuate 

an uninhabitable city was in the United States where 

freedom and the fundamental rights of all citizens is 

highly valued; 
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Whereas every United States citizen is entitled to equal treatment under the laws and should be treated with respect 

and dignity; 

Whereas the constitutional rights of the citizens were violated 

by the actions of the Gretna Police Department and the 

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department; and 

Whereas these actions occurred during a time of national crisis when the assistance of every governmental entity was 

needed to preserve the health, life, and well-being of the 

evacuees: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns in the strongest terms the actions 

3 of the Gretna Police Department and the Jefferson 

4 Parish Sheriff’s Department; 

5 (2) declares that the civil rights and civil lib6 erties of all individuals should be protected, espe7 cially during a time of national crisis; 

8 (3) calls upon local, State, and Federal authori9 ties to work to prevent bias and racial insensitivity 

10 and to adopt laws and procedures that will protect 

11 the civil liberties of its citizens, especially during a 

12 terrorist attack, national disaster, or other time of 

13 national crisis; 

14 (4) urges the United States— 

15 (A) to condemn the actions of the Gretna 

16 Police Department; and 
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1 (B) to initiate an investigation through the 

2 Department of Justice into possible misconduct 

3 by the Gretna Police Department and its offi4 cials. 

Æ