NOPD Superintendent: Man who drove into floodwaters "simply made a bad decision"

WELCOME BACK AT TIME NOW IS AT 420. WE ARE CONTINUING TO MONITOR THE IMPACT OF FRANCINE THAT IT'S HAD ON OUR AREA. WE'VE BEEN CHECKING IN WITH CREWS AND OFFICIALS, INCLUDING EMERGENCY OFFICIALS, AS WELL, ON THE PHONE RIGHT NOW WE HAVE SUPERINTENDENT ANN KIRKPATRICK. WE HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR YOU AS HAVE OUR VIEWERS WANTING TO HEAR FROM YOU DURING THIS EMERGENCY EVENT. THIS IS OUR FIRST TIME TALKING TO YOU ABOUT FRANCINE. WE DO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN OUT OF TOWN FOR A PRIOR SCHEDULED EVENT. KIND OF WALK US THROUGH THE THOUGHT. THERE, PARTICULARLY IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION, AND YOU NOT BEING HERE? YES, YES, I TELL YOU, I WAS IN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE IN THIS RESPECT. I HAD BEEN ON THE BOOKS FOR A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT FOR ABOUT NINE MONTHS, BUT THE LOCATION IS FRANKLY WAY UP IN THE FJORDS OF CANADA. THE ONLY WAY TO GET HERE IS BY FLOAT PLANE OR BOAT. AND SO ONCE YOU KIND OF COMMIT TO GETTING INTO THE LOCATION IS VERY DIFFICULT TO GET OUT. I HAD TALKED WITH THE MAYOR ON MONDAY AND SHE WAS VERY GRACIOUS. SHE CERTAINLY UNDERSTOOD AND UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS TO MAKE SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS. BUT THIS IS NOT LIKE I'M IN A MAJOR CITY WHERE I COULD JUST HAVE GOTTEN BACK. I'M SO SORRY THAT I'M NOT THERE DURING A STORM CRISIS. OBVIOUSLY, WE HAVE LEADERSHIP WHO IS WAY MORE EXPERIENCED THAN I AM. EVEN IN HANDLING A HURRICANE, BUT THAT IS WHERE I AM. I'M WAY NORTH OF VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, UP IN THE FJORDS. SO YOU'RE SAYING IT WAS A TRANSPORTATION ISSUE? YOU COULDN'T T GET BACK WHAT? WHEN? FIRST OF ALL, CAN YOU TELL US WHAT ORGANIZATION YOU WERE SPEAKING FOR? WERE YOU THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER? AND SECONDLY, WERE YOU THERE BEFORE WE KNEW THIS HURRICANE WAS GOING TO LAND? AND THAT'S WHY YOU COULDN'T COME IN TIME? IS THAT THE CASE? NO, NO, THAT'S NOT THE CASE. AND I'M NOT THE KEYNOTE. THERE IS A KEYNOTE SPEAKER. I AM A SEMINAR SPEAKER. SO I WAS IN SEATTLE IS WHERE YOU LAUNCH FROM TO GET TO WHERE I'M AT AND SO ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY I KEPT UP WITH NEW ORLEANS ABOUT, DO I NEED TO COME BACK OR DO YOU THINK WOULD THIS BE THE SITUATION IN WHICH THE STORM WOULD NOT BE TO THE LEVEL OF MAGNITUDE THAT WOULD NEED ME TO RETURN? AND SO THERE WAS I KEPT IN TOUCH WITH NEW ORLEANS ALONG THE WAY. AND THEN WHEN THE FINAL DECISION OF DO YOU GO OR DO YOU NOT WAS MADE ON TUESDAY NIGHT BECAUSE ONCE THAT WAS KIND OF MY MY BREAK OFF POINT, OKAY. AND THAT FINAL DECISION WAS YOURS TO MAKE, YOU DECIDED TO AS THE STORM WAS APPROACHING TO GO IT IT WAS MINE. I AS I SAID, I'M GRATEFUL TO MY MAYOR WHO UNDERSTOOD AND SUPPORTED THE DECISION, AND I DID AS I SAID, SPEAK WITH THE HEAD OF THE HOMELAND SECURITY, COLIN ARNOLD. THROUGHOUT THE TIME AS HE GAVE ME UPDATES AND GAVE ME HIS OPINION ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT I NEEDED TO COME BACK AND I CERTAINLY WAS WILLING TO DO. BUT THAT'S HOW THE DECISION WAS MADE, AND IT WAS MY DECISION. AND AS I SAID, SOMETIMES IT'S A VERY DIFFICULT DECISIONS WHEN YOU'RE IN A SITUATION LIKE MINE AND WAS NOT IN A MAJOR CITY. SO YOU EITHER GO FORWARD OR YOU DO NOT. AND IT WAS MY DECISION. SURE. AND IN HINDSIGHT, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU MADE THE RIGHT DECISION GIVEN THE GIVEN THE FLOODING EVENT AND THE POWER OUTAGES WE HAVE SEEN NOW AFTER THE STORM, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE DECISION YOU MADE? YOU KNOW IT. IT IS A DECISION THAT IS CONFLICTING IN ALL HONESTY, IT IS A CONFLICTING DECISION AND AS I SAID, THIS IS NOT A NORMAL SPEAKING LOCATION OR RETREAT. YOU ALSO ASKED ABOUT THE NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION. IT IS YOUNG LIFE IS THE NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION. THIS IS A WOMEN'S RETREAT. ABOUT 150 WOMEN ARE COMING IN BY PLANE AND BOATS TODAY. AND SO THAT'S THE NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION OF WHERE I'M AT. BUT IT'S A CONFLICTING ABSOLUTELY. IT'S CONFLICTING. ALL RIGHT, CHIEF, I DO HAVE TO ASK YOU ABOUT THAT DRAMATIC RESCUE WE HAD YESTERDAY AT THE CANAL UNDERPASS. YOU SAID YOU SAW THE VIDEO OF THAT. SO WHAT HAPPENED WAS THERE WAS AN OFFICER ON THE SCENE. THERE WAS A TRUCK THAT DROVE THROUGH THE FLOOD WATERS, AND HE WAS GOING DEEPER AND DEEPER IN THE WATER. AND SUCH A DANGEROUS SITUATION. HERE'S A VIDEO. WE'RE SHOWING IT FOR VIEWERS RIGHT NOW. OUR REPORTER JONAH, WHO WAS ON THE SCENE, FLAGGED THE OFFICER WHO WAS RIGHT THERE AND KEPT YELLING, OFFICER, OFFICER, OFFICER, TRYING TO GET THIS DRIVER SOME HELP. A LOT OF PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW WHY THE OFFICER DIDN'T JUMP IN. AND I KNOW IT'S A DANGEROUS SITUATION, BUT PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW WHY THE OFFICER DIDN'T GO. INSTEAD. YOU HAD A CIVILIAN, A GOOD SAMARITAN, GO IN TO RESCUE THIS DRIVER. WHAT ISS YOUR PROTOCOL IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS FOR YOUR OFFICERS? JUMPING IN TO HELP THE RESIDENTS OF NEW ORLEANS? SURE, SURE. AND THOSE AGAIN, EVERY KIND OF DECISIONS AND CRISES ARE ALWAYS GOING TO BE CONFLICTING DECISIONS IN THIS PARTICULAR SITUATION. I KNOW THAT THE OFFICER HAD BEEN TOLD, AS WELL AS THE OTHER OFFICERS, TO HOLD THEIR POSITIONS AND SO WHENEVER AN OFFICER MAKES A DECISION SUCH AS THIS PERSON, THIS WONDERFUL CITIZEN WHO ASSISTED, AND THEN YOU SEE OUR OFFICERS THERE AS WELL HELPING, WE DON'T WANT OUR OFFICERS TO FIND THEMSELVES IN A CRISIS WHERE THEY CAN'T ACTUALLY HELP THE OTHER PERSON. AND NOW WE HAVE TO GO SAVE THE OFFICER AS WELL AGAIN. AND EVERY TYPE OF CRISIS DECISIONS AND PROTOCOLS ARE ESTABLISHED. BUT ULTIMATELY THEY ARE HARD CALLS TO MAKE. I HAD THAT IT NOT BEEN FOR THAT GOOD SAMARITAN. THAT TRUCK WAS COMPLETELY SUBMERGED IN IN A MATTER OF SECONDS AFTER THAT MAN WAS RESCUED. AND SO CERTAINLY WE ARE THANKFUL THAT HE WAS ABLE TO JUMP IN. HOW ARE YOU KEEPING ABREAST OF CONDITIONS ON THE GROUND HERE? ARE YOU GETTING BULLETINS, UPDATES? ARE YOU BEING ALERTED TO ANY OTHER TYPE OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS? ABSOLUTELY. AND SO THAT'S WHY I WAS EVEN AWARE OF THIS SITUATION. SO I'M GETTING VERY REGULAR UPDATES, KEEPING UP WITH THE COMMAND CENTER CHIEF HANS GAUTIER, WHO IS ACTUALLY THE OPERATIONS LEAD CHIEF. WE ARE SAYING WE'VE CONTACTED MANY TIMES THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS WELL AS IN THE EVENING, SO I AM ABLE TO HAVE ACCESS. IF THERE WERE, YOU KNOW, THAT'S AS MUCH AS I CAN DO AS WELL IS TO MAKE SURE THAT I'M BEING INFORMED AND I AM INDEED BEING KEPT INFORMED BACK AND FORTH. AND I DO KNOW AND I HEARD THE SEGMENT LEADING UP TO OUR INTERVIEW, I WANT TO ASSURE PEOPLE THAT THERE ARE SHELTERS AVAILABLE TO THEM. WATCH AFTER YOUR NEIGHBORS. PEOPLE WHO NEED FOOD AND WATER. YOU NEED TO HELP YOUR NEIGHBOR OUT RIGHT NOW. BUT OUR SHELTERS ARE GOING TO BE AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE WHO NEED RESOURCES, SUCH AS ELECTRICAL RECHARGING, DOCKS, THINGS OF THAT NATURE WILL BE IN PLACE UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING. CHIEF KIRKPATRICK, BACK TO THAT DRIVER IN THAT TRUCK. I JUST WANT VIEWERS TO KNOW THE DRIVER WAS NOT CHARGED. THE CAR WAS TOWED, AND THE GOOD SAMARITAN, MILES CRAWFORD, HE INJURED HIS HAND, BUT HE'S IN GOOD SPIRITS. SO WE ALL WANT TO THANK MILES FOR BEING A VERY BRAVE, HEROIC MAN IN THAT SITUATION. DID YOU HEAR ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DRIVER OF THE TRUCK AND HOW HE'S DOING, AND WHAT LED HIM TO DRIVE IN THE WRONG DIRECTION INTO THE FLOOD? YES, I DID FIND OUT A LITTLE BIT MORE. SO OUR OFFICER DID INDEED PUT THE DRIVER IN OUR CAR, TOOK HIM TO THE HOSPITAL. HE WAS STABLE, ACCORDING, UNLESS A CHANGE OF STORY HAS OCCURRED AND IN CRISIS AND DRAMA EVENTS. SOMETIMES YOU'RE THINKING MIGHT BE ONE THING AND SAY ONE, ONE POSITION AND THEN LATER HAVE A DIFFERENT REFLECTIVE THOUGHT. BUT IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE DRIVER INDICATED THAT HE HAD SIMPLY MADE A BAD DECISION. ALL RIGHT, SUPERINTENDENT KIRKPATRICK, ANY FINAL THOUGHTS? ANYTHING ELSE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THERE WAS ONE REPORT OF A POSSIBLE BREAK IN. DID WE HAVE ANY OTHER REPORTS THAT PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT? YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU. IT WAS AT 7500. BULLARD WAS THAT A BREAK IN OR A LOOTING? IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THEY WERE LOOTING EVENTS AND SO WE ARE WILL BE CHARGING PEOPLE. THERE'S A SPECIFIC CRIMINAL CHARGE FOR LOOTING. AND SO THERE HAS BEEN SOME LOOTING AROUND THE CITY. SO THAT WAS SOMETHING I WAS GOING TO BRING UP IN CASE YOU'VE ALREADY COVERED IT BY YOUR COVERAGE. SO SO BE SURE AGAIN IN YOUR COMMERCIAL AREAS, FOLKS. I'M TELLING YOU, IF YOU LOOT, THAT'S EVEN A HIGHER, MORE SIGNIFICANT CRIME THAN IT IS JUST TO EVEN BREAK INTO A A PLACE AND BURGLARIZE. SO NO LOOTING. YOU'RE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE CRISIS OF OTHER PEOPLE. ALL RIGHT. WE WILL BE CHECKING IN WITH YOUR PIOS FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THOSE LOOTING EVENTS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND TAKING THE TIME OUT TO ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS AND KIND OF WALK US THROUGH. WE ARE USED TO SEEING OUR OFFICIALS, PARTICULARLY OUR POLICE CHIEF BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN AN EMERGENCY. SO THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO EXPLAIN. OH, ABSOLUTELY. THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY