Shot or Not, Dead or Alive? Two Men’s Fate Lost in Chaos

A motionless body lay on the pavement. Perhaps 20 riled-up police officers milled around. On the shoulder of the road, an RTA bus was parked at a crazy angle, like a dislocated elbow. Nearby was a long white limousine, crashed into a pole.

What had we stumbled upon?

Then there were guns aimed at us, and my face was pushed against a wall. I heard lots of shouting and cursing.

It was three days after the levees broke: Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005 — in my limited view, the day things completely fell apart in New Orleans.

The desperation was mounting. The cavalry wasn’t coming, it seemed. We were in it alone.

The heat was brutal, punishing. Supplies were minimal, and shrinking.

I had been riding around town with Marko Georgiev, a freelance photographer for The New York Times. It was a symbiotic relationship: He needed a roof over his head and a local guide. I needed a working vehicle and, as it happened, survival skills.

We spent part of the day reporting from the Superdome, and after we left we drove by the Convention Center, by then a scene of privation and anger. Crowds were spilling into the street. It was hard to do anything but creep along slowly. Georgiev spotted a young guy taking pictures of the misery and decided the guy was going to get hurt. He barked at the kid to [ read more…]

By Gordon Russell |New Orleans Times-Picayune | posted: 12 December  2009