Ex-New Orleans police officer sentenced to 3 years in prison in post-Katrina bridge shooting

Ex-cop sentenced in Katrina bridge shootings

NEW ORLEANS — A former New Orleans police detective who admitted he helped cover up deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Jeffrey Lehrmann, one of five former officers who have pleaded guilty in the Justice Department’s probe of the Danziger Bridge shootings, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Lance Africk.

Africk refused a prosecution request to postpone Lehrman’s sentencing until after six current or former officers are tried. Africk also went above the sentencing guidelines, which called for up to six months behind bars.

Lehrmann remains free on $25,000 bond until the trial is held.

Police killed two people and wounded four others on the bridge less than a week after the August 2005 storm.