Wednesday, September 14, 2005

First Katrina Arrests

I see here where the operators of St. Rita's Nursing home have been arrested.

Louisiana AG Charles Foti has charged them with 34 counts of negiligent homicide in the deaths of elderly residents of that St. Bernard Parish nursing home. According to the press release, the prisoners are located in Bton Rouge.
Mable B. Mangano, who is listed as both an owner and administrator and Salvador A. Mangano, Sr., listed as a co-owner, were arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison as fugitives. Mable Mangano and Salvador Mangano, Sr., are each charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide.
Now, if only we could get Compass arrested by the Feds for civil rights violations.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We'll soon see several local and state officials arrested for dereliction of duty. I hope it starts with the Gretna Chief of Police for, at gunpoint, not allowing the refugees off the bridge and into Gretna. His racist actions caused several deaths.

Pawpaw said...

Yeah, that was a bad call by that Police Chief. Stopping refugess and sending them back into the city was heartless and cruel. No doubt about that. It will be interesting to see the statute that governs the offense.

What law would apply? Maybe the first rule of the sea: Human life is to be preserved at all cost.

Anonymous said...

>What law would apply?

Negligent homicide for one. Some of those people died because of the Gretna cops.

Pawpaw said...

Negligent homicide is the killing of a human being by criminal negligence. LA RS 14:32

That might fit, although the prosecutor will have to show that the negligent behavior of the police caused a specific death. Is it negligence to stop someone from crossing a bridge? Good question.

How about this: Malfeasance: "is committed when any public officer or employee shall intentionally fail or refuse to perform any duty lawfully required of him." LA RS 14:134.

Malfeasance could cover a multitude of sins, and carries the same penalty provisions as negligent homicide. Of course, charging people in this state with malfeasance might tend to create a snowball effect that no one wants.