Ex-N.O. cop acquitted in killing man days after Hurricane Katrina

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A former New Orleans police officer was acquitted in the shooting death of a man in the days that followed Hurricane Katrina.

After the verdict in federal court was read Wednesday and he was released from custody, David Warren said he didn't have "any regrets" about shooting 31-year-old Henry Glover on Sept. 2, 2005, four days after Katrina devastated New Orleans, the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.

"I believe I took the proper action that day," he said. "I do not have any regrets."

Warren, 50, who is white, was charged with civil rights and weapons violations in Glover's death. He was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Warren shot Glover, who is black, while patrolling a New Orleans Police Department detective bureau station.

In 2012, an appeals court granted Warren a new trial, ruling he was unfairly tried with four other police officers charged with a gruesome cover-up of the shooting that included torching a car with Glover's body and leaving it on a levee.

Warren, speaking in public Wednesday for the first time since he was charged, never denied shooting Glover but maintains he did the right thing.

When Warren shot Glover, he had been on the New Orleans police force for just over a year. Warren had said he became a police officer because he wanted to serve his community. On Wednesday, however, he said he didn't think he'd return to law enforcement, the Times-Picayune said.

"I have no inclination to re-enter law enforcement, " he said.

Warren said he and his family were "at the point of literally starting our lives almost in a sense over again. It's a good question to have, it's a good position to be in, that I'm able to do that."