New Orleans, La. -
A witness to that Carnival scuffle on Conti Street discussed what he saw in a FOX 8 exclusive interview. The encounter between two teens and a group of plainclothes state and local police working Carnival security in the French Quarter has prompted a petition drive and a call for an FBI investigation.
The witness says there didn't appear to him to be any justification for an interrogation, which State Police say began as a curfew check.
The witness tells us, "The two kids were chilling."
It was an incident that has outraged many, and prompted calls for FBI and City Council investigations.
The witness, a French Quarter worker who asked not to be identified, said he "glanced over, saw two people sitting on the wall, and these people just bum rushed them and threw them on the ground."
The witness said he was standing just 15 feet away from 18-year-old Ferdinand Hunt and 17-year-old Sidney Newman when they were descended upon by the group of nine plainclothes officers on Conti Street two days before Mardi Gras.
He said, "We were all tired from Mardi Gras, but there was no reason for them to snatch anybody up like that."
City Councilwoman Susan Guidry told us, "The concerns are obvious. The video does not look good."
Sidney Newman appears to be thrown to the ground in an incident that didn't end until his friend's mother, NOPD officer Verna Hunt, appeared.
"She was like, 'What the hell's going on? I don't understand.' And once they figured out she was a cop, they let them up," the witness tells us.
"It looks like there was unreasonable force used on these two young men," said Guidry, the chair of the council's Criminal Justice Committee.
The teens and their parents went to the FBI earlier this week, asking for an investigation.
Ferdinand Hunt told us Monday that he was stunned by the surprise takedown. "I said, 'What are you doing?' I thought they were robbing me."
The FBI has conducted several interviews. So have State Police, which are also investigating. And Guidry says there will be a council hearing on the matter. She told us, "When those investigations are concluded they will come and speak at the Criminal Justice Committee about their conclusions."
But though there are multiple investigations going on, this witness says no one has called him. "They took our names down, and this is the first time I've heard from anybody about anything," he told FOX 8.
Some people say this incident points out why the NOPD needs the reforms of the consent decree -- but Guidry points out that only one of the nine officers was NOPD. "I think it's an important point to bring to the public about the officers involved. There's eight state police and one NOPD, and he's coming in as the events already unfolded."
FOX 8 asked the witness,"Did you see the boys do anything that you made you feel they deserved the treatment?"
He said, "No. Nobody fought back, nobody was running, there was nothing going on. They were relaxing on the street."
State Police tell FOX 8 their internal investigation could take up to 60 days. They have asked the public to reserve judgement on this incident until after their probe is concluded.
An image from the surveillance video of the Conti Street incident
