The Killing fields of St. Bernard Parish

(Your response goes here.)

Write a letter to the editor: Holler@capcityfreepress.com Just include your full name, and city/county, state and/or country from which you are writing. (Your email address will NOT be posted with your letter.)

Volume 5, Issue 11, November 2006

The Killing fields of St. Bernard Parish

Editor's Note: We have withheld the names of some witnesses and victims in this article due to threats they claim to have received for speaking out about this subject.

Kristin M. Thomas
Senior Writer
Capital City Free Press

St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana was a hidden gem of the South and a place where proud Southern history met the modern oil industry. It is the site where the Battle of New Orleans was fought, where the cypress tree grows in abundance, where our nation's past stands watch over our future, and where nearly three-fourths of the parish is marshland. This is Louisiana Bayou country and a unique part of Southern heritage.

Just like Arabi, Biloxi, Pass Christian, Waveland, and so many other areas in the Gulf Coast area, St. Bernard Parish was essentially leveled a year ago by Hurricane Katrina and undoubtedly the site of some of the worst destruction the storm brought. What happened in St. Bernard Parish during Katrina and its aftermath was overshadowed by the rescue effort in the City of New Orleans.

This is a story of one parish under unimaginable strain, in the worst possible scenario, and left to rescue itself. Although the complete demolition of this parish by hurricane and flood is a story repeated throughout the Gulf Coast region, the serious claims of Constitutional rights infringement and pet genocide are not.

Lost in Complete Devastation
St. Bernard Parish has a large fishing community, and it was fishermen cruising neighborhood streets in their boats who rescued residents immediately after the levees failed. As the floodwaters rose and people rescued each other from their homes, survivors were ferried to the local schools in St. Bernard Parish. Three Schools, St. Bernard Parish High School, Beauregard Middle School and Sebastian Roy Elementary School were all used as staging areas, and all of these schools accepted families with pets. By all accounts, St. Bernard Parish was one of the hardest hit parishes in Louisiana and its residents suffered immensely. It was a parish left to rescue itself and those charged with protecting and providing aid to the residents were faced with unbearable horrors.

Within minutes of the levee breach, the parish was nearly leveled by 12 feet of water, and the community remained submerged for weeks. In a Sept. 8, 2005 interview with The News & Observer, Sgt. Mike Minton of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriffs office said, “They told us not to do retrieval, but you can't blame a guy when you got a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old.”

What was left when the waters finally receded included an environmental disaster.

“My first trip through Arabi and Chalmette was an indescribable shock. An oily sludge covered the streets and ground where I walked to leave food for animals… Everywhere you looked was an absolute mess. There were very few people and little sign of life save for some animal feeding sights where empty cat food cans were on the ground or where dog food bags were partially full. The streets were silent. It was as if a bomb had gone off in every single house and had blown all of the contents out into the street and every resident had vanished,” says Jane Morgan, an Animal Rescue New Orleans volunteer.

In a parish of just over 67,000 residents, at least 127 people perished in the aftermath and nearly 50 more are still unaccounted for. Most residents have yet to come back permanently and some say they never will.

A System Out of Control – Brutality, Genocide and Rights Infringement
There are many heartbreaking stories of loss of life and property, of peoples lives being torn apart by the great storm that visited them over a year ago. In addition to these stories, some St. Bernard Parish residents tell another story. They tell a story of harsh and cruel behavior by those charged with their relief and rescue, and of St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Deputies using family pets for target practice.

According to several evacuees, there were around 100 animals awaiting rescue in St. Bernard High School when the forced evacuation order was given. Sheriff's deputies told the owners that their pets would not be allowed to accompany them but would be looked after and rescued later. When some owners refused to leave without their pets, they were threatened with arrest, and when they remained steadfast in their defiance, the deputies threatened to shoot them and their pets. In some cases, residents were dragged from their homes or shelter in handcuffs and brutalized. Some sustained broken bones. When these people were finally allowed back into the parish to look for their dogs and salvage their belongings, what they found was violence, tragedy and a pet owner's worst nightmare.

“When we arrived at the school we went to the room where Gene [a Katrina evacuee] was forced to leave our lovable dogs. The sight was beyond words, beyond understanding, beyond my worst nightmares. When I saw my beloved Angel lying in a pool of her blood, I knelt down beside her and started crying. I asked out loud, 'Why did this happen and who did it?' I was kneeling in her blood, and I was telling her I was sorry that I was forced to leave her. Carol [also a Katrina evacuee] and Gene were with Bullet and were talking to him. As we were getting ready to leave the school, I kissed Angel on her forehead and told her that I was sorry I couldn't rescue her. I still have nightmares about what happened, and I picture this all too often in my head. I still lay awake at night crying because Angel Girl was all I had.”
– excerpt from John Bozes’ testimony to the Louisiana Senate

When asked what he thought of the sheriff’s department’s response in the days after the flood, John Bozes says, “Instead of protecting our homes, they were out on the streets murdering our pets.” Bozes can speak from experience. He says while what remained of his house was being looted, the sheriff’s deputies of St. Bernard Parish were off doing something else.

Caught on videotape shot by cameraman David Leeson, a photojournalist on assignment for the Dallas Morning News, Sgt. Mike Minton and other deputies were running over dogs in a jeep and shooting down dogs in the street, all while rockin’ out to 80’s hair-band music.

Minton was also identified by many evacuees as being at the scene of the St. Bernard HS pet killings when the forced evacuation order to vacate the staging areas was given. He was even overheard by several of these witnesses telling another deputy, “Once we get these people out of here, it’s target practice tonight.”

Photographs from the scene include shots of messages stating the names of pets and the contact information for their owners, such as: “This is a nice dog, please don’t shoot her." After the evacuation and the gruesome discovery had been made, there were 33 animal bodies, pets which had been killed, bagged and tagged as evidence at the schools along with spent, police-issued, shell casings. Some dogs were shot while trying to run away or while huddled together in corners. Others had just given birth and were caring for puppies.

John Bozes, whose three dogs were killed at the schools and owned a fourth dog that managed to escape, visited the scene when he heard of the deputies' actions and recounts the scene: “I saw newborn puppies… new born puppies they were killing. When I saw that I broke down and cried.”

Contrary to the excuses given for shooting the animals, their owners and witnesses attest that the animals were not suffering and that they had left them with enough food and water to sustain them until rescue arrived. The animals were family pets, not wild or vicious dogs.

Such shootings were not confined to the schools. As previously stated, the video shot by David Leeson proves that the streets of St. Bernard Parish became a shooting gallery for sheriff’s deputies and their targets were family pets. And yet the streets were not the only place according to witnesses.

After the evacuation order was given throughout the parish, sheriff’s deputies started going building-to-building and forcing the “hold-outs” off of their property. Several victims speak of the extreme measures the deupites took in order to force people from their homes.

According to a civil petition filed October 4, “While (plaintiff) retrieved personal effects from an upstairs room inside her home, she heard two gun shots. Her dog 'Hooch' entered the house and ran upstairs. Blood splatter covered his body and half of his face was shot off. Plaintiff clearly recalls her final moments with Hooch, in which he seemed to be saying goodbye. His agony was real.”

Several individuals say threats concerning them speaking out about the deputies' actions persist even to this day. Many of the individuals who lived through the storm and weathered the abuse refuse to go on record out of fear. Others have requested their identities be protected. The Capital City Free Press has encountered many such sources.

Bozes speaks of the alleged harassment, and is one of the most vocal victims.

Aside from the harassing phone calls and other threatening communications he says he had received in the past year, Bozes relates the following story: One day, while driving into the parish to collect what remained of his belongings he was passed by three St. Bernard Parish squad cars. Once spotted, all three squad cars that had been traveling in the opposite direction about-faced and proceeded to follow his car for the remainder of the day. When asked what he thought they were trying to achieve by following him that day, Bozes says, “They are trying to scare me, and they are not scaring me one bit.”

Bozes also believes that the sheriff’s office has been covering up the alleged actions of its officers, protecting the deputies and even interferring with the Lousiana Attorney General's investigation into the matter.

According to Bozes, this is nothing new for the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's office: "They have always been a corrupt organization... as long as I can remember."

Both calls and e-mails to the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s office, requesting comment, remain unanswered.

The Capital City Free Press has also been unable to locate Mike Minton for comment. We've been told by our sources that he has moved out of Lousiana, and we have been unable to locate him for comment.

Seeking Justice
On October 2, a civil suit was filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana by a group of pet owners involved in the alleged pet shottings. Louisiana civil rights attorney Eileen Comiskey is representing the plaintiffs pro bono. Some hope the case will evolve into a class action suit.

Although the Louisiana Attorney General's office is currently investigating the alleged shootings in St. Bernard Parish, many of the victims believe that there is an effort to cover-up the events. All of the physical evidence left at the scene of the crime has been gathered, and necropsies were performed. Mark Steinway is an investigator who collected the evidence for the attorney general's office. He is also the founder of Pasado Safe Haven. Steinway believes there is an overwhelming amount of hard evidence that could be used to bring criminal charges and convict the perpetrators.

In an interview with Mimi Hunley of the attorney general's office, she said, “Although it is policy for the attorney general's office to not comment on any ongoing investigations, I can assure you that this is an active and ongoing investigation and we are working on it.”

Bozes says of his participation in the civil petition: “I made a vow to Angel and all of the dogs murdered there that day there will be justice. I made a vow to them and an oath to God to seek that justice, and I’m not going to rest until justice is served.”

Currently, Pasado Safe Haven is offering a $25,000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest and successful prosecution of those responsible for the pet deaths. They are also accepting donations to help pay for the expenses related to this litigation on their website.