| Submit your comments on this article | |||
| Home Front: Culture Wars | |||
| Cadillac Cops of New O'lens | |||
| 2005-10-08 | |||
| State authorities are investigating whether New Orleans police officers broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars -- including 41 new Cadillacs -- as Hurricane Katrina closed in. Hot damn! I've had my eye on that new Cadi, and its raining and all....
Miss Wartelle would not comment on why the officers may have taken the cars or whether they were used in the line of duty. However, the cars may have been taken before the hurricane even roared into town Aug. 29, according to the president and general manager of the dealership, Doug Stead. Mr. Stead said the cars included 88 new Cadillacs and Chevrolets, 40 used cars, 52 customers' cars and a restored 1970 El Camino and 1966 Impala. "We put the loss on new cars at $3.7 million," Mr. Stead said. "The used cars ran another $900,000." When reports first surfaced last month that officers may have taken the cars, New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said it was not considered looting because the officers patrolled in the cars. "There were some officers who did use Cadillacs," Superintendent Riley said. "Those cars were not stolen."
Police also are investigating 12 officers for possible looting or failing to stop looting. And about 250 police officers -- roughly 15 percent of the force -- could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission during Katrina and its aftermath. Mr. Stead said he got a call Aug. 28 while evacuating the city, telling him one of the dealership's garage doors was open. The rest of his trip was spent fielding calls about his cars. "I had eight calls from people in an hour saying they heard I was giving police Cadillacs to drive," he said. "It seemed like everyone knew about it, so I knew we were in trouble." Mr. Stead said he got calls from people telling him they had seen his cars in Baton Rouge, Houston and other cities with uniformed police officers driving them. He said people saw his cars parked outside a police precinct. Keys to the new and used cars were kept in a locked box on the second floor, Mr. Stead said. The box was taken on a forklift to the third floor, where a blowtorch was used to open it, he said. For cars without keys, the ignitions were jimmied, he said.
| |||
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #7 anybody check the tire/wheel shops for theft of low profiles and spinner rims? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-10-08 14:10 |
| #6 Would you rather 'patrol' in a new Caddy, or a school bus? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-10-08 13:44 |
| #5 Did anyone think to check in the Mayor's Garage? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-10-08 13:40 |
| #4 Well at least the New Orleans school buses were secure. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2005-10-08 12:13 |
| #3 You may think I'm foolish For the foolish things I do You may wonder how come I love you When you get on my nerves like you do Well baby you know you bug me There ain't no secret 'bout that Well come on over here and hug me Baby I'll spill the facts Well honey it ain't your money 'Cause baby I got plenty of that I love you for your pink Cadillac Crushed velvet seats Riding in the back Oozing down the street Waving to the girls Feeling out of sight Spending all my money On a Saturday night Honey I just wonder what you do there in back Of your pink Cadillac Pink Cadillac Well now way back in the Bible Temptations always come along There's always somebody tempting Somebody into doing something they know is wrong Well they tempt you, man, with silver And they tempt you, sir, with gold And they tempt you with the pleasures That the flesh does surely hold They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple But man I ain't going for that I know it was her pink Cadillac Crushed velvet seats Riding in the back Oozing down the street Waving to the girls Feeling out of sight Spending all my money On a Saturday night Honey I just wonder what it feels like in the back Of your pink Cadillac Now some folks say it's too big And uses too much gas Some folks say it's too old And that it goes too fast But my love is bigger than a Honda It's bigger than a Subaru Hey man there's only one thing And one car that will do Anyway we don't have to drive it Honey we can park it out in back And have a party in your pink Cadillac /w/hook-'em longhorns |
| Posted by: Brucey 2005-10-08 12:04 |
| #2 A couple of days after Katrina a car pulled out of a driveway in front of us, forcing us to stop suddenly so that we got a close-up look at its license plate -- a temporary one -- and the plate holder. "Hey!" said Niles. "That car's from New Orleans." "Musta looted it on the way out of town," I replied. And I thought I was just being mean. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2005-10-08 02:46 |
| #1 sorry, please move to p3 |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-10-08 02:30 |