New Orleans Officer Suspended For Just Watching During Brawl On Canal Street (VIDEO)

It's commonplace these days to see videos uploaded to the internet in which fights or other craziness is happening and a bunch of people are simply spectating instead of stepping in.

Can you remember seeing one in which a spectator not doing anything was an actual police officer however??

Probably not. So today's your 'lucky' day.

A brawl on Canal Street was uploaded recently to Youtube, and the results of it have left a 28 year veteran of the force suspended.

Cortez Hankton was suspended without pay Wednesday for neglect of duty pending a full internal investigation by the Public Integrity Bureau, Police Chief Ronal Serpas said.

Serpas said he took action against Hankton after he watched a YouTube video showing Hankton standing several feet from two the female combatants, but failing to intervene as they grapple and punch one another.

At one point in the nearly three-minute video, a man steps into the skirmish and lands two hard blows to the face of one of the women. Hankton reacts by trying to push the man aside, but then allows the man to walk away without consequences.

“I've lost confidence at this time in his abililty to perform the duties necessary to protect the people of New Orleans and to protect fellow officers,” Serpas said. “No one, no one, can watch this two-plus minute film and believe that Officer Hankton did all that he could, including all he could do physically, to stop two citizens from pummeling one another.”

Eighteen-year-old Lakena Comeaux, who was the woman in black in the video, said it wasn't the first time she was attacked near the same area of Canal Street.

She said it has happened three times before.

"Before it got to that situation, I was getting attacked almost every day," she said. "They're going to look at us like we're animals, like we have no self control. It's not like that. I was harassed, attacked and just got tired of it."

Comeaux said she was walking to work when she was confronted. She claims that an ongoing dispute involving her brother, who was in the video, and a group of others, escalated into the encounter. At one point a man punched Comeaux in the face.

"I had a busted lip, a bruise to my face," she said.

Comeaux's brother landed a punch of his own, hitting the woman in pink. All of it happened in front of Veteran NOPD Officer Cortez Hankton.

"I thought he should have broke it up," said Comeaux."But, he was just standing there."Full Story
-----------------



Raw Video


News Video

Interview With Girl Fighting In Video