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New Orleans Police Keep Public Trust, Private Pain
New Orleans police detective Chad Perez inspects a house with a stolen ATM in the 6th District. Only two-thirds of the force showed up for work after Katrina.
(Photos By Andrea Bruce -- The Washington Post)
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There's a mixture of pride, guilt and anger in their talk. "This is our psychotherapy session," said Sgt. Kenneth Miestchovich, 42, one of two platoon leaders.
Most of the officers have incidents that haunt them.
For David Holtzclaw, 42, a tough-talking, macho police officer who has been on the force for nearly 25 years and has seen many dead bodies, it's about a baby. He was helping at the convention center one night when a man came up to him carrying his baby in a filthy blanket.
"The baby's lips were blue," he remembered. He hadn't eaten in days, and the mother was unable to breast-feed because she was ill.
Holtzclaw didn't know what to do. There was no hospital, no paramedics to call. He rushed the father and baby into his car, and began speeding west, away from the water. He stopped in St. Charles Parish and called an emergency medical service crew, which picked up the child. He found out later that the baby did not survive.
"I never thought in my wildest fears that this could happen -- that a baby could starve like that in America. I have to think God has a reason," he said.
A few days later, after the National Guard arrived, Holtzclaw saw a huge pallet of baby formula at the police headquarters and he was in agony all over again.
It was after 1 a.m. before the officers of the 6th scattered to try to get some rest. Few were able to sleep through the night, and soon the parking lot was filled with half a dozen officers wandering around silently in the darkness.
