On September 4, 2005, 40-year-old Ronald Curtis Madison, a man described as having severe mental disabilities, was shot and killed on the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans while fleeing the sound of gunfire. Madison, an African-American man, was unarmed when Officer Robert Faulcon Jr. shot him in the back as he ran away. Witnesses reported Sergeant Kenneth Bowen stomping and kicking Madison as he lay dying.

Minutes earlier police had opened fire on another group of unarmed civilians on the bridge, killing 17-year-old James Brissette and wounding four others. Initial police reports claimed officers had been fired upon and responded to an officer down, but a later federal investigation found that none of the civilians on the bridge were armed and exposed a conspiracy to fabricate witness statements and plant evidence. Lance Madison, Ronald’s brother, was arrested and held for three weeks on attempted murder charges before being released without indictment.

The shooting and the subsequent cover-up eventually produced federal indictments and convictions of multiple New Orleans Police Department officers; the case highlights severe abuses of power and the long road to accountability. Does anyone have firsthand information about events on the Danziger Bridge that day or knew Ronald Madison?