New Orleans Police Kill Man Who Swung Knife

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 27 -- Police officers shot and killed a man brandishing a knife in a confrontation that was partially videotaped by a bystander, setting off another internal investigation of the embattled police department.

Monday's daylight shooting on a busy street was the first involving police since New Orleans reopened after Hurricane Katrina. It follows a videotaped police beating that led to two firings in the department.

Monday's victim was identified by the coroner's office as Anthony Hayes, 38, of New Orleans.

A police spokesman, Sgt. David Adams, said on Tuesday that the officers who fired on the man have been reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation. But he defended their response, saying that at least one officer's life was in danger just before the gunfire.

"You have a subject who's lunging at them with a knife . . . swinging wildly at them and they're fearing for their life," Adams said.

Police Superintendant Warren Riley told the Associated Press that an internal review will determine for certain whether proper procedures were followed. He added that "all witness accounts" indicate the shooting was justified.

Adams would not say how many officers fired at the man, but he said investigators found 10 shell casings on the ground. Witnesses said half a dozen or more shots were fired.

Officers repeatedly asked the man to drop the knife and used pepper spray to try to subdue him, but he covered his face with a cloth and continued walking toward an officer and threatening him, authorities said.

"Evidently, the pepper spray had no effect," Adams said.

A businessman had called police after a confrontation with the victim in the Lower Garden District west of downtown.

Phin Percy videotaped a portion of the confrontation before the shooting from his father's second-story apartment.

"The cops kept telling him, 'Lay down! Lay down!' This went on for about three minutes," he said.