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00:00Communities, homes, and lives all along the Gulf Coast have been shattered and destroyed.
00:17The mayor of New Orleans said that hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of people in the city are dead.
00:22Bodies are being left floating in the floodwaters.
00:25The emphasis is all on rescuing the stranded.
00:30We're told that about 100,000 people are still in this city with no way to get out.
00:34Leaving residents to hold up desperate messages for whoever might be watching from above.
00:48After all the panic in the attic, we found an old cell phone that still had some power.
00:56I was like, oh my God.
01:02I called 911.
01:04They said, we're going to send someone over to rescue you guys.
01:08And maybe about five hours after that, a boat came.
01:13To the interstate, offload, I'll come right back.
01:17It won't take me long.
01:18So, he drove us toward interstate 10.
01:24And on the way to the bridge, there was a baby, hair freshly combed, that was in the water.
01:36And she was deceased, but I so wanted to get this baby out of the water.
01:43And I told the guy that was driving the boat, I said, there's a baby right there.
01:50He said, let me get the baby, and I'll take her to someone on the bridge, and maybe we can find out who her parents is.
01:59You know, he said, that baby's gone.
02:02And she's deceased, and I was like, anyway, just let me get her, you know, out the water, and I'll take her to the bridge.
02:09And maybe, you know, the ambulance or something up there is waiting, and they can take her, and they can identify her.
02:15And he took a stick or some kind of board he had in the boat, and he pushed the baby away.
02:31He was like, ma'am, we're worried about the living, not the dead right now.
02:36We have to, we have to get the living.
02:45Wednesday was already becoming a particularly bad day.
03:01Our first responders were exhausted from dealing with one crisis after another.
03:07And by that point, FEMA had a full 24 hours to take action on that list of our needs.
03:17But there was still no cavalry, no help.
03:21And so we felt as if FEMA was maybe not the right organization for what we were dealing with throughout the city of New Orleans.
03:31Because we knew that the deterioration was quickly getting worse, and people needed to get out today.
03:48The Superdome, which was the shelter of last resort, has become the last place anyone wants to be.
03:54Inside, the toilets and air conditioning are broken.
03:56They got a disease in there, they got dead bodies.
04:04The bathrooms, we haven't used it since like Tuesday.
04:08And then when you have to really use it, you have to use it almost anywhere.
04:11Hold up.
04:13Look how we living like pigs.
04:17Pigs.
04:18Shoot this bathroom right here.
04:22It was unbearable.
04:23So a lot of us started going around gate to gate and talking to the different National Guard members and, you know, trying to see if they'd let us out.
04:32And they would say, we'll go down to that gate, and he wouldn't let us out.
04:35We'll go down to the next gate, and they wouldn't let us out.
04:37We'll go to another gate, they wouldn't let us out.
04:41But then all of a sudden, somebody that was with my group just started checking the gate like, yeah, man, let us out here.
04:47We're getting, you know, such and such and this.
04:49And he just started saying a whole bunch of stuff, and that's when the National Guard pulled the M-16 out.
04:55And he said, y'all better go down that way.
04:58Go, go, go.
05:04It's kind of like they didn't really work with us.
05:06They was rotating different groups of National Guard members, but nobody still would say who was in charge.
05:17In a disaster, the First Army collaborates with the National Guard.
05:23But Louisiana was not my assigned area when Katrina hit.
05:28The general that was actually in charge of Louisiana, he was still in his headquarters in San Antonio.
05:33So when he told the Pentagon I was in Mississippi, he said, get that general of New Orleans.
05:42And that's how I ended up designated by the president to be the commander of Joint Task Force Katrina,
05:48which put me in charge of coordinating the response with FEMA.
05:54When I arrived at the Superdome, it was like thousands of eyes who were looking at me.
06:00And my first thought was that we've got to get these people out of here.
06:07So General Honore comes in where the mayor and I were.
06:11Come on in, General.
06:13How you doing?
06:14I'm hanging in there. How are you?
06:17We had FEMA, the city, and emergency personnel represented.
06:21And everyone is sharing with him what we need.
06:26But the FEMA representative interjects to say, we can't do this.
06:31We will do that.
06:33This we have to do by the book.
06:35We're going to do that, but it takes time.
06:38General Honore at this point had had enough.
06:41And he says, excuse me, FEMA.
06:44Before you speak, you need some fucking success.
06:47So I said, all right, what is the priority?
06:54The mayor said, we need to get food and water.
06:57We need to save these people.
06:59Okay?
07:00And we've got to evacuate the city.
07:02Same thought I had.
07:05By this point, we had already asked federal and state officials for buses to transport people out of the city.
07:14They knew buses were one of our top priorities.
07:19So we expected that the buses would be arriving later that day.
07:26So after that meeting with the mayor, I said, well, I need to go check in with the governor in Baton Rouge because they had trouble talking to each other.
07:37Not only politically, but the lines were down.
07:40There is no comms.
07:45And since the loudspeaker system didn't work, I walked around the 30,000 people in the Superdome to let them know we're working on it.
07:54I think it's going to be buses and we're going to bring it.
07:56I don't know how it's all going to work, but buses are coming.
07:59It did uplift our spirits.
08:04And so I was watching people settle beefs and shaking hands, you know what I mean?
08:10The place started getting real trashy.
08:13So a lot of the teenagers, they started coming together and they started cleaning up.
08:18There was a young man pushing around one of those hotel luggage carts with a person laying on it.
08:28And he said, hey, this lady just passed out.
08:31What do you want me to do with her?
08:32And she was okay and she was conscious, but she was clearly overheated.
08:36And I said, can you roll her to the medical center?
08:41It's right down there.
08:42And so he took it and he came back about 10 minutes later.
08:45He's like, you want me to keep doing this?
08:47If I see stuff or I need people?
08:48And I was like, please do.
08:51He loved that he had a role.
08:54The risk of allowing that young man to help push people to the medical arena was this much.
09:01The impact of other people seeing how he was helping was colossal.
09:12The National Guard chaplain would talk to us and he'll say, what are your concerns right now?
09:27What are you thinking?
09:28And people just, you know, would say, my loved ones.
09:32I know, my loved ones.
09:34Look, one of the things we want to focus in on is, as bad as it is, we can rebuild a house.
09:41I have no home to go to either.
09:43Everything I have has been destroyed.
09:45I'm wearing what I have.
09:47So we're all in the same boat.
09:50But you know what?
09:51All of my family is okay.
09:53And that is important.
09:55New Orleans is a city that pray.
10:01And I thought he did a great job.
10:03And he, as a man of God, stood up there and he spoke to us and he made us feel better.
10:07Even though we are uncomfortable, we give faith that God sent this angel down to puff it up.
10:16A lot of people started feeling like, you know, now we're chosen at this point in time.
10:25Amen.
10:26Amen.
10:26We're in this thing together.
10:29And before we get it even worse, we're going to get out of here.
10:33I've called for the president.
10:44I'm expecting him to call me back anytime soon.
10:46But I've asked the president to give us all the resource possible today.
10:52We need his help today.
10:56Time is of the essence.
10:58It's critical that we move quickly and begin to stabilize our situation.
11:03We are live on top of the Causeway Bridge over Interstate 10, where the scene behind me here is just unbelievable.
11:15It is a massive refugee camp filled with thousands and thousands of people waiting for a ride out of the city.
11:23They have been rescued from...
11:24We went up onto the Interstate Bridge on Wednesday.
11:27My sister and the people we were with decided we were going to go as far down as we could go.
11:33So we walked miles away from my house, hoping to cross into Algiers because it wasn't wet over on the West Bank.
11:43We got to where we could look at the Superdome and the National Guard was driving past us.
11:49And it became very apparent that they weren't going to worry about us until the last minute.
11:57It was really stressful because there were a lot of seniors and kids.
12:01And we were almost in 100 degree temperatures on concrete.
12:06But there was no access to water.
12:10That's the thing that really gets me because you can survive without food for a couple of days, but you have to have the water.
12:17You got a governor.
12:18What the fuck is they doing?
12:22Look at the people right here, bro.
12:25This ain't no game.
12:27This is serious, bro.
12:28People's life is on stage.
12:33So it was unbearable.
12:35But then we noticed that some guys went down under the bridge to the Kentwood Water Company.
12:42And they took trucks and they came up on the bridge with water.
12:45And this is the part that I was amazed at.
12:49When they started distributing, the only thing they said was, drink it, don't waste it, because we don't know how long this will last or how long it'll be before we get out.
13:02So that's when I started noticing that you have to be very careful about media and what you read and what you see.
13:12I've watched all day long the stories of the people who are causing trouble, who are, you know, screaming and yelling about things and just being thugs.
13:22These are supposed to be the thugs that they talk about.
13:26They were the ones who went to the Circle Food Store, which is about a half a mile from where we were to get us dry food, dry clothing, because they had a clothing store inside of there, too.
13:41No, you're not supposed to do that.
13:43I know we don't, but if we're barefoot and we're walking in the water, our feces are going to get cut.
13:47Most of the networks, live setups, weren't in those areas that were heavily flooded.
13:55They were generally in downtown, tethered on Canal Street, broadcasting live from satellite trucks.
14:01So if there's a shooting on Canal Street and there's looting, you just got to turn the camera there.
14:05That's easy sleazy.
14:06Hey, come back to the road, come over there.
14:08And you're done, you know, and that can lead your broadcast.
14:12The unrest is so bad that his boss ordered him to leave the city.
14:15He said the looting was starting to get so out of control, our general manager is fearing for our lives.
14:22As if emptying the store's shelves wasn't enough, some decided to go one step further and take the shelves themselves.
14:30They're so busy with hauling out big racks full of food, they're not concerned about anybody else.
14:35They're just, I mean, they're...
14:36Everybody for themselves.
14:37Everybody for themselves.
14:38I was dismayed watching the news, the way they depicted black folks who were living in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
14:51It's like they didn't see us as regular people, law-abiding, church-going, hard-working people.
15:01It's just hard to believe this is reality.
15:05And, you know, people living in these conditions turn to, you know, in some cases, turn to animals.
15:11It's much more difficult to get the full story and not just the headline.
15:23My news director always said, people come first, property comes second.
15:28And that's what we kept the focus on.
15:30Look, you had some stupid stuff that was going on.
15:42But the majority of this community was not people in chaos wanting to go out and just loot everything.
15:51There was people trying to survive as things got worse all over the city.
16:00So, I flew to Baton Rouge, saw Governor Blanco, and she said, we've asked FEMA for buses.
16:18We don't know when they're going to come, General.
16:21But I'd appreciate it if you do what you can to help New Orleans get evacuated.
16:25I said, I got it, ma'am.
16:30Shortly after that, I got a note that the FEMA director, Michael Brown, wanted to see me.
16:36General Honoré has been working incredibly closely with FEMA and doing all the civil support stuff that we've asked him to do.
16:45So, I went to his office.
16:46He was in a big, fancy mobile command headquarters in Baton Rouge.
16:50And he said, that's your desk right there.
16:53I want you right next to me.
16:56I said, I don't think so.
16:58I said, I'll put somebody in that desk, but the problem's in New Orleans.
17:02I can't solve it here.
17:05And he insisted.
17:07He said, we have to have unity of command.
17:10I said, well, we can have that, but it won't be me.
17:13I've seen the eyes of those people in New Orleans.
17:17That's where I need to be.
17:19So, I left.
17:23The situation in the Superdome was getting worse and worse and worse.
17:29So, I sent a lot more emails to FEMA headquarters to alert them just how bad it was.
17:35Wednesday, August 31st, an email to Mike Brown.
17:41Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical.
17:45Here are some things you might not know.
17:48Hotels are kicking people out.
17:50Thousands gathering in the streets.
17:52Hundreds still being rescued from homes.
17:55The dying patients at the disaster medical assistance team tent are being medevaced.
18:00Estimates are that many will die within hours.
18:03Plans developing for dome evacuation, but hotel situation is adding to the problem.
18:10Phone connectivity is impossible.
18:13More later.
18:15The tone of the entire building changed dramatically.
18:20And I found myself wondering how many unanswered questions is this group of people who are here,
18:27how much longer can they take this environment?
18:30That we're asking them just to hang in there with us.
18:31Hang in there, hang in there, hang in there.
18:33And I felt that, boy, if we make one false promise, we would lose their trust.
18:41Like, if I say to them, buses are going to be there today, and then the buses don't come,
18:46I think it would all tip over.
18:48I felt that.
18:49So it was very, very important to me that I didn't over-commit or over-promise anything.
18:55Because, again, it was a razor-thin level of trust between me and probably thousands of people who I talk to every day.
19:03From where we was at on the bridge, all the people that were looking for somewhere to go,
19:16they were saying, don't go by the Superdome because, you know, the Superdome trashed out.
19:22There's nowhere to go in there.
19:23You know, so they were like, well, go to the convention center because that's where, you know,
19:27that's where the shelter's supposed to be, and that's where the bus is supposed to pick people up.
19:34My main focus was to get the kids to safety, and the little bitty babies, they can't really walk.
19:40So I had one baby, and my brother had the other baby, and we got the other two little children,
19:44and we walked for miles.
19:47Because of the conditions in the Superdome and the Interstate 10 bridge,
19:52we started hearing that people were now spilling over into the convention center.
19:57So we just worked straight through.
20:00I don't remember sleeping much at all.
20:02For days now, people have been rationing what little food and water they have, waiting for help.
20:07They say they feel like they've been abandoned by humanity.
20:10What's it been like here?
20:12It's been like hell.
20:14It's been like hell.
20:15We have people here, sick people, haven't had medicine in four days.
20:19We're just worried about medication for my mom because she's almost out of insulin.
20:22My sister's got through a sick side attack right now.
20:24We're trying to see what we can do to get some IV fluids to her.
20:28We're trying to keep the babies hydrated.
20:30And my little baby getting sick, he just keep crying in diarrhea, and he don't have no more milk or nothing.
20:36I've been crying for two days, and I try not to let him see me cry.
20:40What do you do as a reporter?
20:45Like, people are asking you for water, and like, I had a few bottles, and I gave it away, but like, I can't help them.
20:51And that was a sobering time for me because I realized that all the stuff that I wanted to do as a reporter,
20:58like, let's get the story, let's get great pictures, like, at that point, none of that mattered.
21:02When you're dealing with people's lives, like, they want to let their family know that they're alive.
21:06My, my grandma, one of y'all, if y'all out there, you heard me, and y'all hear you, son, just let me know y'all living, you heard me?
21:17Because I ain't seen y'all since Katrina here, and I really miss him, y'all, you feel me?
21:21And I'm hurting, I'm hurting.
21:23See this body right here?
21:25That woman been dead since Tuesday.
21:27There are six bodies upstairs on the third floor, and another lady laying on the floor by the lady's bathroom dead.
21:35It's just terrible. It's an awful situation to have to live in.
21:41We went inside the convention center, and the only way that I can describe it, and I don't want to get into detail,
21:47is that it is the smell of human suffering.
21:52I couldn't stand the smell that's on myself.
21:54You know what I'm saying? I'm nasty, my shoes wet, everything wet, I don't have nothing.
22:01I felt embarrassed, you know, like I couldn't talk to nobody.
22:06And even though, you know, all the people out there, they was in the same predicament.
22:09So, you know, we all was like, you know, people who used to having stuff and, and, and, and having things and taking care of themselves,
22:16and they couldn't, you know, they felt the same way.
22:22I was totally, like, out of myself already.
22:24I just felt like I was just going to pass out and die at any time.
22:29But also, the kids didn't have no more food, and they was dehydrated, you know, their lips was turning white.
22:37So, through the shame and embarrassment and the guilt, the only thing I could do is just use the little strength I got to try to get these children some help.
22:47So, when the media came out there with their cameras and all that, you know, I had my two little babies in my hand, and I just went to hollering on the camera.
22:55We didn't have no water, we didn't have no food, we don't have nothing here.
22:59If the police taken it out the store, you didn't expect these people.
23:02If you care, our children been out here for days, they don't have nothing to eat, we don't have no cold water.
23:06Come back in for nothing, all right?
23:08We got babies that's hungry.
23:10Send people to get the folks out of here, folks.
23:12We're hungry, we're starving, we need help.
23:15We need medical attention, they got old people that's sick, they got people dying.
23:19I felt neglected.
23:20I felt like the city that we masked in all these years and paraded in with the second lines and, you know, worked in and built these regular houses and, you know, that they just let us down.
23:34Like, at this time, to them, it was like we wasn't even human no more.
23:38People still in New Orleans, if they looked to the sky, saw Air Force One, the president flying over for a personal look at the devastation.
23:48His plane was low, just over the city skyline.
23:52I basically told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice.
24:00And I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources.
24:05A lot of people suffered, and a lot of people suffered needlessly.
24:12If we had had the leader of the free world show up in New Orleans on Monday, instead of just flying over the city two days after the storm, we would have had a much different situation after Katrina.
24:27Powerful country as we are, and we can't take care of these people, they're out here all this time? Doesn't make sense. And I'm pissed.
24:35Powerful country as we's alive.
24:42Powerful country as we are.
24:44When I joined the police department, my aspirations were high.
24:49Then in 2002, I became superintendent of police and in that position.
24:55I wanted to be always accessible to the media.
24:58and from a communication standpoint the mayor told me any kind of cover-up wouldn't be tolerated
25:06that stuck in my mind I think I overthought it I didn't want to hide anything from the people
25:14and I was so dead set on not covering anything up that things that were reported to me I reported
25:22them quickly without getting verification the way it would have been under normal circumstances
25:27so when my tactical guys said that a sniper was shooting at our officers I reported that
25:37sniper was shooting at police officers and my my captain and I was was fighting for the snipers we
25:44went from rescue to tactical almost instantaneous they were shooting us in a helicopter they were
25:50shooting at my SWAT team I mean it was crazy well that whole thing of people shooting at helicopters
25:56is a reflection people watch too much TV they thought if they shot up the helicopter would
26:03hear him or see him and come get him I spoke to the police chief and I said chief where'd you get
26:10this notion that there's snipers in the city he said I was in the helicopter general and they shot at us
26:15did they hit the helicopter chief no I said why did you use the word sniper maybe from the military
26:23the jogging parts for a sniper is different than the jargon and the parlance that we use but when
26:29an unidentified person that we can't spot randomly shoots a police officer in my opinion I was a sniper
26:35maybe I shouldn't use those words in hindsight I guess I shouldn't use those words it was getting reported
26:42over and over again and it took a life of its own about the sniper fire they're actually taking a sniper
26:49fire as they're trying to evacuate patients I was there just about an hour and a half two hours after
26:54that looking at that same area in fact I didn't see any snipers myself big searchlights looking all
27:01around to make sure that there were no snipers that were going to attack us things became so much more
27:07difficult for us to do because of this fear as simple as where's the where's the truck that's
27:15bringing all the new food and the National Guard would go out and we'd find the truck that had been
27:20abandoned by the delivery driver who was told there were snipers all around the Superdome they were
27:25shooting and killing all the delivery drivers and all that completely made up but just made our jobs
27:30infinitely worse and more difficult I overreported things I should have verified and I'm sorry I did
27:39that sir a lot of respect to you tonight for what you have been going through seeing your men and women
27:46go through so much when Katrina came there was no school you could go to to deal with the worldwide
27:55media on 24 7 basis I was working off of one and a half to two hours sleep a day I wasn't eating
28:02well I had migraine headaches almost the entire time and I had gotten to the point where I was around the
28:08media so much it is so many cameras pointing on me I actually forgot the cameras were around me
28:15well communications being fragmented some people will get reports that a young lady was raped and it was in
28:23proximity to me where my daughter was at so by the time it got to me it went from a young lady being
28:32raped to my daughter was raped and when I thought my daughter was raped it just it tore me up I need
28:40somebody to get me a cruise boat or some type of boat a cruise ship for some kind of ship so I can put my
28:46people in some comfort so I can help the people we have people believe but we have lost their families
28:52and they have not gotten out of this fight I didn't know where my dogs left for two days and we endure
28:56it I'm so tired of this but it's finally almost over that's it I don't talk anymore doing Katrina the
29:04first responders were also victims their homes are gone their families were moving from place to place to try
29:11survive so when your first responders are also victims it changed the character of the response
29:19I made tremendous sacrifices doing Katrina my family wanted me to stop being a chief and go get my elderly
29:28aunt and uncle unfortunately my aunt and uncle died and I it haunts me every day that I could have saved
29:36them and I didn't so people that was not privy to the circumstances at ground zero where I was at for
29:43an entire time they had no idea of the challenges that we faced all they saw was a microcosm of what
29:51the media wanted them to see we are live in front of the convention center which has not been emptied of
30:04people at all chief what do you figure how many people here we have at least 30,000 30,000 at least
30:1130,000 and none have been taken out none have been taken out the buses were promised the buses are not
30:16here they built these people spirits up we need to get these people out of here now so unfortunately we
30:27discovered that while FEMA put in requests for buses whatever reason that didn't get moving as fast as it
30:34should have so people gonna have to stay there another day we knew that these people were getting
30:42to a desperate place in terms of their ability to withstand the environments that they were in and
30:49we were really worried whether we could survive another day like this Wednesday good afternoon everyone I
31:00first want to express my thanks to President Bush for the confidence that he has shown in me I also
31:08want to speak to the civil unrest and some of the disturbances that we have seen it's just not
31:13acceptable and I understand that the National Guard troops local law enforcement all of those will do
31:22everything in their power to minimize that we had National Guard elements from every state come here in
31:31Louisiana and some people who deployed to Louisiana had already been to Iraq and now sprinkle on that you
31:38know all those rumors of lawlessness and snipers and shootings and all of that was like oh we're gonna
31:44need weapons so as the deputy public affairs officer I was really just trying to stomp out a lot of the
31:53myths that were becoming so problematic because they're just creating fear after I came back from Baton Rouge
32:06I had to see to marry him they said let's walk through the crowd at the Superdome a National Guard
32:12buddies told me say well we need more guards for protection I said no we don't need any more guards
32:17we all right so I had two up with me I said put your guns on your back don't be pointing guns at nobody
32:24that's when people notice me and they notice my name and they would said hey brah you gonna get us out of
32:31here I said yeah we'll get you out of here so how do you recommend we handle it I think we try to get
32:38a public message out on the radio okay and you tell the governor the buses need to be there early in
32:44the morning we need her to get on the television and so people I saw the mayor and discussed the
32:50evacuation plan for the next thing that was being coordinated with staff down in Baton Rouge and with
32:56FEMA director Brown in all sincerity my heart goes out to those people and I am determined
33:03absolutely determined to speed this thing up make this thing work and get the aid to those people
33:10so Cindy Taylor who worked in the office of external affairs received an email from Sharon Worthy who
33:31was the handler for undersecretary Brown it is very important that time is allowed for Mr Brown to eat
33:39dinner given that Baton Rouge is back to normal restaurants are getting busy he needs much more
33:46than 20 or 30 minutes we now have traffic to encounter to get to and from a location of his choice
33:52followed by wait service from the restaurant staff eating etc thank you and so Cindy Taylor then forwarded
34:01that email from Sharon Worthy to me and she said let me preface by saying I know he needs downtime but
34:08um how much time do each of you need for dinner including travel time to the restaurants of your
34:15of your choice question mark I'm trying to coordinate where the buses are so I can answer the mayor's
34:24questions and deal with the press but 72 miles away in Baton Rouge this son of a bitch is waiting in lines to go in the
34:32restaurant I mean there was some stupid shit happening this plain stupid so after I got that email
34:40I immediately responded to Cindy oh my god with eight exclamation points I just ate an MRE and crapped in
34:51the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends so I understand her concern about busy
34:59restaurants maybe tonight I will have time to move the pebbles on the parking garage floor so they don't stab me in the
35:07back while I try to sleep but instead I will hope her wait at Ruth's crisp is short this email exchange was
35:21really starting to show the disconnect the tone deafness I just don't think they understood my urgency
35:37at the Superdome almost everything they needed any kind of satellite or a tower still didn't work but
35:46what did work and we became aware was that a lot of people had brought radios to the Superdome
35:52that was how they were getting their news which was problematic because there was a lot of mistreats
36:01and a lot of the exaggerated stories were being perpetuated by the radio the situation is getting
36:07really chaotic there's fights breaking out there's a lot of murders has occurred rapes look you name it
36:15all of a sudden walking around we heard that some little girls was raped and killed in the bathroom
36:28I really was looking for somebody to be screaming at the top of their lungs
36:57murder somebody did this but I never seen anybody come forward and it's fascinating because some
37:06people are asking me did I have video on that I was like are you serious like I would have video on
37:12somebody getting raped and killed for real we had already heard from the security team inside the
37:20Superdome about what was actually transpiring so we knew that that wasn't actually the case but
37:29still the rumor took a hole then it started spreading like wildfire I mean a lot of people yeah rape all type of
37:43violence you don't know who's here you got people that's druggies you got people that's uh that's raping
37:49the media was irritating you're not allowed they just wanted to be in everybody's face and getting
38:01all these interviews and they wanted people to be scared I would get people who would call me and they
38:06would ask me to confirm facts and then I would say well that's not the facts at all and they would
38:10write their story anyway and it could not have spun more out of control at the Superdome there have
38:17been rapes a murder and various shootings there was a lot of misinformation all over the place and it
38:26wasn't just the media it was within our organization well one of the police officers told me was it is a war
38:34zone out there people are fighting he said in his words people are losing their minds some things were
38:42completely exaggerated some things were completely made up some things were said that just literally
38:48did not happen and you had all of this going on in the middle of a disaster there was chaos there was no
38:56communication but I saw cops on the street firing back at thugs that were on rooftops etc I've never seen
39:03the breakdown of American society like this but there's certainly the media want to lead the
39:08American people to focus on chaos yeah that's what happened in a disaster if you don't have chaos then
39:14it's not a fucking disaster it's an inconvenience but there are people wanted to exacerbate it as a crime
39:21problem in the city of New Orleans when the crime problem it was an evacuation problem
39:33it is now shortly before dawn about 5 30 in the morning for the last four hours we have seen no buses
39:47here meanwhile the size of the crowd has been growing and so has its level of frustration we've
39:55been out here since nine o'clock yesterday morning just like this it's about six in the morning listening
40:09to the news a lot of people lost everything man getting their last sleep and to find out if they could go home
40:16by this time we were supposed to be out of here but they never had anybody to say that they was about
40:26to evacuate the Superdome so I was like oh man I just don't believe some of this I don't know what's
40:32gonna happen eventually it's getting worse so we have to move these families out of here but from you I
40:39would like to know are there buses coming for these people to get out they keep saying that but who can
40:45believe them anymore exactly I tell these people we know believe what you see not what you hear
40:54going to Superdome what is the plan for them they are going to start to be moved right after we get
41:03all the medical patients out we're going to move them they are our first priority then after that we
41:09will have 350 buses that are staged and they're going to start to move people out of the Superdome
41:14the buses started to show up and we came up with a route that would bring them in and a way to walk
41:22the people out to the buses and at the air medevac site of the Superdome I had him knock down the
41:31power poles so we could bring large helicopters in and take out the elderly everything seemed to be
41:38going well but then a call came over the radio that a pilot reported being shot at when that went out
41:49all the helicopters in route diverted and that just turned this situation on his head
41:54desperate situation in the city of New Orleans as we speak the effort to move those evacuees from the
42:04Superdome to the Astrodome now halted after shots were fired rescue helicopters came under fire and
42:10violence spilled out into the streets right outside the largest ambulance service says it will have to
42:16severely cut back its rescue efforts if security doesn't improve we were told that the buses were
42:23stopped because things inside the city of New Orleans were so dangerous the drivers of those buses and
42:29ambulances they said I'm not going in there I've I've told my wife I'm not going in there there's
42:34still a sense this is a riot zone and it's not it was just a story that got out of hand and eventually
42:42people tried to draw us into be more focused on security than we are on the mission of saving lives
42:48some of the things like security you look at and you think the time has come to empower our law
42:53enforcement officials on military officials to say let's adopt a zero tolerance attitude let's take
42:58these people off the street so they can't be causing this danger when we realized that the looting was
43:04getting out of control we redirected all of our police officers back to patrolling the streets they were
43:10dead tired from saving people but we redirected all of our resources all of a sudden I just got inundated
43:18with people coming to me they were confused they say chief are they going to evacuate us or we got
43:25to go who gonna feed us we were asking the Louisiana authorities to hunt down those looters they must make
43:32sure those rapists looters and assailants get what they deserve what's the exposure to the national
43:38media all of a sudden now at police headquarters the message was to stop the looting that was the message
43:46and what came next was a complete mess
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