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Pasado Newsletter
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ST. BERNARD STREET SHOOTINGS CASE DISMISSED!
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NEW
EYEWITNESS IN DOG SHOOTINGS COMES FORWARD TO PASADO'S SAFE
HAVEN
Pasado's Safe
Haven was called this week
by a man who was an EYEWITNESS to St. Bernard
Sheriff's officers shooting dogs and cats approximately on
August 30 and 31. He and his wife remained in their house
for 11 days in St. Bernard
Parish with no food or water. All of their pets, 2
dogs and 3 cats, eventually perished.
He and his
wife heard shots from boats in the floodwaters. He saw the
individuals, "wearing St.
Bernard Sheriff uniforms" who he claims he can
identify in a photo line-up. He and his wife hid from the
men, for fear the officers would shoot their animals.
The officers,
according to this man, "picked off the dogs and cats who
swam to roofs for safety".
This man saw
Susan Michaels' (Founder, Pasado's Safe Haven) interview in
the Times-Picayune, this week (in reaction to the dismissal
of the street shootings case) and called Pasado's Safe Haven
to report what he had witnessed. When asked why it took so
long for him to come forward, his reaction was, "Because I
just assumed with all the evidence, a conviction would be
forthcoming." He was angry the men "got off without a single
charge".
The man will
be interviewed, in Baton Rouge, this week in person.
NEW
DEVELOPMENT IN SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
Pasado's Safe Haven paid for all the necropsies in the
school shootings case and last week, hired a private
detective to hunt down two eyewitnesses who would
be key to bringing charges forth in the school shootings
case.
"We won't give
up," says Susan Michaels, Founder, Pasado's Safe Haven. "We
committed to seeing these cases through and we'll do what it
takes to make sure those responsible for the cowardly acts -
pay."
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Read the latest on the dismissal of the
St. Bernard Dog Street Shootings Case
here.
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Here is a message from David Leeson,
a Dallas Morning News
award-winning photographer who shot
video showing the officers
shooting the dogs on St. Bernard St. He did his level
best to help these innocent family pets who were "simply
looking for some help" after being displaced from the
hurricane.
Deep sigh. Unbelievable. Lack of evidence? Another sigh.
I wondered what had happened to this case. It was supposed
to go to trial in November but I never got a call from the
state. I assumed it was postponed. But I had also heard
about the change in the DA and rumors that it could affect
the case. And, so it did.
I'm sorry. I wish I could have done more. If I had only
followed up that very day by returning to that neighborhood
to shoot more, it might have helped. If only my footage of
the black dog that I photographed trotting alongside our
vehicle as we were leaving had turned out. I thought the
tape was rolling but it was not. It was this dog that caused
me to stop to let him catch up so we could feed him. I would
have missed the shootings entirely if not for my desire to
feed this beautiful dog. On my tape “ not included in the
edited version" - I say, "I was going to feed that dog," and
then you hear my colleague say, "And they shot him." I've
always wished that tape had been rolling because it would
have clearly shown that this was a very friendly animal
simply looking for some help.
Thanks for keeping me informed.
Best,
David Leeson
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NEW UPDATE ON ST.
BERNARD SCHOOL SHOOTINGS - CLICK HERE! |
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HISTORY OF STREET
SHOOTINGS AND SCHOOL SHOOTINGS:
The streets were eerily
silent in St. Bernard Parish two weeks after Hurricane Katrina wreaked
her havoc. People had fled. Even the birds who usually sang in the bayou
parish back roads abandoned their lairs. The shots that rang out seemed
to echo off the vacant land. Was there a soul left to hear the moans of
the dogs they had felled?
Photos captured from David Leeson's (Dallas Morning News) videotape |
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Certainly the killer could
hear them. Mike Minton, a St. Bernard Sheriff's Officer roamed the
streets that were now dry. Hunting, it appeared, the dogs left behind by
their Masters and Mistresses. As the animals ran, looking for their
beloved people, or for food, or clean water, Officer Minton raised his
firearm and fired. Picking one off at a time. He didn't aim for the
head, to make their suffering end quickly. They would be found shot in
the neck,
the legs, the stomach.
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Surely he heard them cry
out as life slipped away from them.
But there was a witness, besides the god we hope had accounted for the
sins of Officer Minton. He'd won a Pulitzer prize for his photography
covering the war in Iraq. Back from the desert sands of the Middle East,
David Leeson was now patrolling the war-torn land of New Orleans with
his camera, documenting the aftermath of the nation's worst disaster.
He also carried with
him, a video camera. |
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Leeson took a photo that
would capture the horror of what was happening to the animals of Katrina
and it would become known around the world. Named simply "Oily dog", it
froze in time a dog, lost, alone, covered in oil after a refinery fell
victim to the hurricane force winds in St. Bernard Parish. "I returned
to the streets of St. Bernard Parish," Leeson would say, "in search of
"Oily dog". Instead I found all hell breaking loose."
Pasado's Safe Haven
interviewed David Leeson. Leeson, now back home in Dallas, Texas,
recalled the events of those moments by phone. Moments burned into
his memory forever. |
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"The officers would stand
up in the back of a pick-up truck. One would see a dog and point.
Another would pick-up a rifle and shoot. There was no emotion," Leeson
would recall. |
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(Dog's body, at top
of stairway, blurred) |
We spoke with the
photographer only weeks after he had met Louisiana State Attorney
General's Office investigators in St. Bernard schools. There, in
classrooms, on stairways, in a small school auditorium, 33 dogs and cats
had died, mercilessly shot after their guardians had left them. The
animals suffered prolonged death, having been shot in the neck, legs,
body cavities. The pets had been left in the care of St. Bernard
Sheriff's Officers, despite the pleas of people begging to take them
with them. We talked to Leeson, in hopes of perhaps connecting the
dots from one killing field to another.
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We were looking for any video documentation David Leeson had that would
allow us to
show individual shots of sheriff's officers to the victims in the
schools. We needed a
photo line-up of the officers and the sheriff's department wouldn't
provide it to us. If a resident could say 'That guy was in St. Bernard
High School - or that guy was in Beauregard Middle School' then we'd
know who was there.
The victims never knew the names of the officers who
killed their
beloved pets. They heard them call each other by nicknames. "Wolf"
"Skinny Kenny" were two they would recall.
We would learn from pet owners who reluctantly left their pets behind
that they had heard sheriff's deputies say that they were going to shoot
the dogs once the people were gone. One Louisiana National Guard member,
present at the schools, reportedly watched sheriff's officers go into
Beauregard Middle School, after the victims had left, and suddenly heard
massive gunfire. One recollected that someone ran in to stop them because he
knew what they were doing. He saw dogs who had just been shot. He yelled
at the officers to stop shooting and called his commanding officer on a
radio to let him know what was happening. The commanding officer then
ordered the sheriff's officers to 'stand down'. But it was too late. |
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The evidence of a massacre
lay everywhere. Some dogs had been shot in the back-end, as they
apparently tried to run up the stairs, away from the shooters. Others had been tied up. They had no where
to run. The officers who shot them looked into their eyes, and saw the
innocence. How could they pull the trigger?
As part of the
investigation into the school shootings, Pasado's videotaped the bodies and
shell casings, with the AG investigators present, before removing the
evidence. Then, one by one, we used gloved hands and a small
shovel to scoop up the bodies of what were once-loved golden retrievers,
a dachshund, a lab - and dozens of other pets. After days of intense
Louisiana heat, their fur melted into their decomposing remains.
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We drove a van of 33 extra large Rubbermaid snap-tight lid
containers - sarcophagi for the 33 pets, to the Louisiana State
Veterinary Diagnostics
Lab for necropsies (animal autopsies), the LA State AG has been
investigating both
brutal crimes. Or were they crimes at all? In times of natural disaster,
the excuses for not tending to those in need, human or animal, or even
killing them, can be an attempt at justification. Would sheriff's
officers claim they were doing the animals a favor by "putting them out
of their misery" and saving them from a fate of starvation or
dehydration? Would prosecutors believe no bayou jury would convict one
of their own after having acted in a time of such a profound disaster?
We feared the latter might come true. |
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The Street Shootings
David Leeson's videotape,
documented a similar horror.
"Tom (the Dallas Morning News reporter accompanying Leeson) was trying
to find the "oily dog", asking anyone for help in locating the animal"
Leeson recalls. "Tom turned to the sheriff's officers in a plea for
help. 'I wanna' find what happened to the dog,' he told them." Leeson
said, "Are you out of your mind? These guys have been killing these dogs
all over the neighborhood. You're just going to give them information
about how to find this animal and they'll kill him too." |
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Leeson captured not only
Minton, but other parish sheriff's officers and SWAT team
members, wearing menacing black SHERIFF SWAT cut off t-shirts.
Minton would later claim he was doing a community service by killing the
dogs intimating they were vicious, dangerous dogs.
The videotape would tell a different story.
"You're not talking to a city boy here," Leeson says. "I've grown up in
Abilene TX, I've seen aggressive dogs. I know what an aggressive dog
is." |
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At the request of AG investigators, Leeson handed over the tape,
identifying the officers, one bald, another wearing a blue t-shirt with
identifying marks. He showed them videotape as the shooters aimed their
firearms and shot, without specific notice to where on the body they
were shooting. It was random. The dogs would fall, and squirm, there was
no remorse or regret. It was not only an intentional act. It was perhaps
a proud act. Or perhaps just one out of boredom, because they had little
to do at that point in the disaster. |
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If it weren't for that video, there most
likely would be no
criminal prosecution. None of the people who witnessed these crimes want
to talk about what they saw. They either played a role in it, or they're
afraid for their own personal safety if they do speak. This videotape
was eyewitness testimony.
Since both men captured a chapter in the history of Katrina many would
rather forget,
forever frozen on digital videotape, the AG's office has been working
hard to make sense
of the evidence. |
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The result, this week, was
a Grand Jury indictment of Officer Mike Minton and Deputy Chip England
for aggravated cruelty to animals. According to Mimi Hunley, Asst.
Attorney General, "This is a felony and the most serious of all the
crimes they (the Grand Jury) could have indicted them for." |
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Mimi Hunley has told
Pasado's that Minton and England will be arrested soon. She expects them to be
able to post bail. Because of the nature of the crime, (not being a
human murder) and because one of the men (England) is still employed by
the sheriff's department and not considered to be a flight risk, bail
will be set at a level the officers are expected to meet. |
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Download and post Pasado's reward
poster if you're in the New Orleans area. The more people who know about
the reward, the better chance of catching the cowards!
Read the history of the
St. Bernard School Pet Massacre and Pasado's investigation,
here. |
What you can do to
help...
Pass on this page link to as many people as you can. We need to
keep this story alive.
Donate! We
are a (relatively) small animal rescue group and investigations, travel,
phone calls, and animal necropsies (to prove a case) costs
thousands of dollars. Pasado's Safe Haven has been awarded 4-Star
Charity status for three consecutive years. A record! We use your
dollars wisely - and fuel them with our passion
Purchase
our PasadoRescue Katrina DVD or a
"Not
Without My Pets" t-shirt - those purchases help us continue
working on this critical case. Or just
make a
donation. Together, we'll find who committed this horrible act
of cruelty - they should never be able to get away with this!
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