By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS- In the midst of a crime wave that has included nine killings since New Year’s, the Police Department also is investigating seven of its own officers accused of beating a man in the French Quarter.
Two of the officers have been assigned to desk duty pending an investigation and more might be reassigned, Deputy Chief Marlon Defillo said.
Ronald Coleman, 25, a lobbyist for the community group ACORN, said he was beaten Dec. 30 by plainclothes officers who were looking for a pickpocket.
“I didn’t know what was going on, they just came up and started hitting me,” Coleman said Tuesday.
He said they released him after checking his identification, but by then he had suffered a concussion, facial cuts and bruised ribs.
The department has been dogged by bad publicity since Hurricane Katrina.
Last month, six officers and one former officer were charged with murder in connection with shootings on the Danziger Bridge in the post-Katrina chaos that killed two men and wounded four others. Two other officers, charged in the French Quarter beating of a teacher that was videotaped by The Associated Press, are scheduled for trial March 12.
In the meantime, municipal officials have proposed measures including a citywide curfew to deal with the killings that have plagued the city.