Ex-policeman jailed for shooting an unarmed man

A FORMER New Orleans police officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday for shooting a man dead without justification after Hurricane Katrina. His former colleague was jailed for 17 years for burning the body.

David Warren, 47, was convicted of the manslaughter of Henry Glover, 31, outside a shopping centre less than a week after the August 2005 storm. Gregory McRae, 49, was found guilty of burning Mr Glover's body, in a car near a police station.

The judge said he didn't believe Warren's testimony that Mr Glover posed a threat.

Jurors also convicted former lieutenant Travis McCabe of writing a false report on the shooting. His sentencing has been postponed while his lawyers seek a new trial based on what they say is fresh evidence.

Warren said he was guarding a police substation at a shopping mall when Mr Glover and a friend, Bernard Calloway, pulled up in a stolen truck and started running towards a gate that would have given them access to the building. Warren said the men ignored his commands to stop and that he thought he saw a gun in Mr Glover's hand before he fired at him.

His partner that day, officer Linda Howard, testified that Mr Glover and Mr Calloway weren't armed and didn't pose a threat.