Witness: NOLA cop laughed after burning man’s body

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Witness: NOLA cop laughed after burning man’s body

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/nola-cop-laughed-burning-body/

A New Orleans police officer was laughing after he burned the body of a man who had been gunned down by police in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, a fellow officer testified Thursday.

The testimony came during the trial of officer Greg McRae and Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann, who are charged with burning the body of 31-year-old Henry Glover in a car after he was shot and killed by a different officer outside a strip mall on Sept. 2, 2005. Three other current and former officers also are charged in Glover's death.

Lt. Joseph Meisch testified Thursday that he was standing outside a police station near the Mississippi River when he saw a car followed by a pickup truck driving on a levee. McRae was driving the car and Scheuermann was driving the truck, according to prosecutors.

Moments after the car drove off the levee, Meisch saw a plume of thick, black smoke.

Meisch didn't know who was driving the vehicles until McRae and Scheuermann ran toward him. Scheuermann had a blank look on his face, but McRae was laughing, Meisch said.

"Laughing like somebody had just played a joke?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Knight asked.

"It could have been humorous or nervous laughter," he said.

[orleans]

1. his laughter was the sound of a man losing his mind. n/t