NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Five current and former policemen who face charges connected to the killing of a man after Hurricane Katrina are on trial in New Orleans.
One is accused of shooting Henry Glover; two with beating people who tried to help him and burning his body in a car; and two with making a fraudulent police report about his death, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Monday.
The trial is expected to go on for weeks, the newspaper said.
Glover's charred body was found in a car on a levee days after the 2005 storm. A federal grand jury indicted the officers in June.
David Warren is the only officer accused of firing a weapon. Investigators said he shot Glover from a second-story balcony where he was guarding a detective bureau office. Prosecutors say the shooting was improper, and that Glover was unarmed and shot as he fled.
Warren's attorneys say he had a reasonable belief his life was in danger from Glover.
Defense attorneys say they will make the chaos in New Orleans after the hurricane an issue.
The charges resulted from one of a series of civil rightrs investigations of the New Orleans Police Department. Twenty officers have been charged in four separate cases, the newspaper said.
