Rick Knapich
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- Aug 5, 2004
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I got back from New Orleans last night about midnight. I was there since Tuesday morning. I had six hours of sleep during that time.
Lafayette fared pretty well during the hurricane. It missed us for the most part and we just caught a bunch of wind and rain. All I had was a bunch of leaves and some branches come down...about an hour's worth of clean up, as opposed to two weeks' of cleaning up after "Lilly". I took the day off to watch the house and keep an eye on the big oak tree that's behind the house.
We got a call from Baton Rouge on Sunday to be ready to be activated. We shipped out Tuesday morning. We (about 600 Probation and Parole Officers from all over the state) had to empty the Orleans Parish Prison which had 4,000 prisoners and transport them to state facilities in other parts of the state. They were rioting, killing each other and holding civilian hostages. This never made the news, at least not to the extent that actually played out. We had to have our State CERT teams go in there and use lethal force. I still don't have the exact count of how many had to be shot. I saw the body of one after having been shot and having fallen from the window they had broken through to escape.
Nearby I saw the body of another guy who appeared to have been robbed and killed, then thrown off the expressway that all the refugees were using to get around above the flooded street. There were bodies everywhere. Dogs were dying all over from drinking the water that was flooding the area. We were stationed on the expressway right opposite the Super Dome, about six hundred yards away.
The rioters had stolen all the mail trucks and were driving them around the non-flooded roadways, looting and stealing other vehicles. I saw one guy in the back of a mail truck carrying an AK-47 type weapon. He started to point it at us as the truck drove buy and the only reason we didn't fire was because there were also kids in the back of the truck.Fortunately, he never fired. You heard gunshots all the time. These people were shooting at National Guardsmen, police officers and rescuers in boats. I saw approximately 60 Wildlife Fish and Game Officers leave the area with as many trucks and rescue boats after having been shot at. The helicopters that were bringing food, water and people that had been picked up from roofs and other flooded areas were being shot at and they had to stop landing. I saw a caravan of FEMA vans and trucks come into town right past my checkpoint and then leave after an hour because they said it was too dangerous.
I saw, from day one, miles of charter buses come in and take out thousands of refugees, right through my checkpoint. When I finally heard the news on TV after getting home and heard Mayor Nagin complaining that he wasn't getting any help and nobody wasn't doing anything I almost got sick. I would have knocked him out if he was standing in front of me. (You have to know this man's history of running / ruining this city). There was more help and aid coming into that city from day one than you could have ever imagined.
By the third day they were setting fires to homes and businesses. It is my belief, based on experience, that a lot of fires were intentionally being set to cover up other crimes, many being capital crimes. The death toll is expected to be in the thousands and won't be known until after all the water is drained and some semblance of order is restored.
I must have given bottled water to a hundred women carrying infants in the 90+ sun and walking for miles. They were pushing the elderly and infirm in shopping carts and dragging dresser drawers with clothes and personal belongings. It was so hot we had agents close to passing out because we were in the sun, wearing our vests.
The last caravan left the prison about 7pm last night and it felt good to get home, take a shower and sleep in a bed.
P.S. We have several thousand ev
Lafayette fared pretty well during the hurricane. It missed us for the most part and we just caught a bunch of wind and rain. All I had was a bunch of leaves and some branches come down...about an hour's worth of clean up, as opposed to two weeks' of cleaning up after "Lilly". I took the day off to watch the house and keep an eye on the big oak tree that's behind the house.
We got a call from Baton Rouge on Sunday to be ready to be activated. We shipped out Tuesday morning. We (about 600 Probation and Parole Officers from all over the state) had to empty the Orleans Parish Prison which had 4,000 prisoners and transport them to state facilities in other parts of the state. They were rioting, killing each other and holding civilian hostages. This never made the news, at least not to the extent that actually played out. We had to have our State CERT teams go in there and use lethal force. I still don't have the exact count of how many had to be shot. I saw the body of one after having been shot and having fallen from the window they had broken through to escape.
Nearby I saw the body of another guy who appeared to have been robbed and killed, then thrown off the expressway that all the refugees were using to get around above the flooded street. There were bodies everywhere. Dogs were dying all over from drinking the water that was flooding the area. We were stationed on the expressway right opposite the Super Dome, about six hundred yards away.
The rioters had stolen all the mail trucks and were driving them around the non-flooded roadways, looting and stealing other vehicles. I saw one guy in the back of a mail truck carrying an AK-47 type weapon. He started to point it at us as the truck drove buy and the only reason we didn't fire was because there were also kids in the back of the truck.Fortunately, he never fired. You heard gunshots all the time. These people were shooting at National Guardsmen, police officers and rescuers in boats. I saw approximately 60 Wildlife Fish and Game Officers leave the area with as many trucks and rescue boats after having been shot at. The helicopters that were bringing food, water and people that had been picked up from roofs and other flooded areas were being shot at and they had to stop landing. I saw a caravan of FEMA vans and trucks come into town right past my checkpoint and then leave after an hour because they said it was too dangerous.
I saw, from day one, miles of charter buses come in and take out thousands of refugees, right through my checkpoint. When I finally heard the news on TV after getting home and heard Mayor Nagin complaining that he wasn't getting any help and nobody wasn't doing anything I almost got sick. I would have knocked him out if he was standing in front of me. (You have to know this man's history of running / ruining this city). There was more help and aid coming into that city from day one than you could have ever imagined.
By the third day they were setting fires to homes and businesses. It is my belief, based on experience, that a lot of fires were intentionally being set to cover up other crimes, many being capital crimes. The death toll is expected to be in the thousands and won't be known until after all the water is drained and some semblance of order is restored.
I must have given bottled water to a hundred women carrying infants in the 90+ sun and walking for miles. They were pushing the elderly and infirm in shopping carts and dragging dresser drawers with clothes and personal belongings. It was so hot we had agents close to passing out because we were in the sun, wearing our vests.
The last caravan left the prison about 7pm last night and it felt good to get home, take a shower and sleep in a bed.
P.S. We have several thousand ev
