Bernard Calloway of New Orleans is suing the police department claiming he was harassed after witnessing the post-Katrina murder of Henry Glover.

 

Glover’s killing became one of the more sensational cases after the disaster due to the involvement of the police. On September 2, 2005, the victim was shot by Officer David Warren while walking through an alleyway and his body eventually burned up in a car by police.

 

Calloway was with Glover at the time of the murder. Not realizing that Glover had been shot by a police officer, Calloway, along with Glover’s brother and a passing motorist, drove Glover to a temporary police station seeking help.  Under the direction of Captain Jeff Winn, other officers drove Glover to a secluded spot, where they set fire to the car containing Glover’s body.

 

Calloway later testified in federal court against those responsible for the crime. Warren was sentenced to 25 years in prioson. Officer Greg MacRae, who burned Glover’s body, was given a 17-year sentence. Winn escaped punishment, although he lost his job.

 

In his lawsuit, he claims he was forced to go into the witness protection program due to the severity of police harassment and intimidation by the New Orleans Police Department. Calloway is seeking $2.5 million in punitive damages for physical and emotional pain and suffering, lost wages and other charges.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

To Learn More:

Police Shooting Witness Entered Witness Program After 'Barbaric Desecration' (by Peyton Burgess, Courthouse News Service)

Bernard Calloway v. City of New Orleans (U.S. District Court, Eastern Louisiana) (pdf)

Henry Glover Jury Finds 3 Officers Guilty in Death, Burning of Algiers Man (New Orleans Times-Picayune)