Photographer for 'Times-Pic' Arrested As He Begs Cops to Kill Him

[Rose Siding]

NEW YORK A photographer for the Times-Picayune of New Orleans who has undergone severe personal trauma since Hurricana Katrina hit was arrested Tuesday after trying to get police to shoot him to death. Police said he claimed he was depressed after he found out he didn't have enough insurance money to rebuild his Katrina-damaged home.

They said he was seeking "suicide-by-cop," but police who found him tasered him instead.

Earlier published accounts had revealed that he had recently taken a leave of absence from the paper and was undergoing therapy.

John McCusker, the photographer, was being held under psychiatric observation and faces unspecified charges.

He had been one of the paper's key photographers in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. "Katrina didn't flood New Orleans - government failure did," he told visiting students from Brown University recently.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002984418

So sad.

[soothsayer]

1. Everybody down there's on prozac and other antidepressants.

That's one thing the gov has been able to supply for some reason.

[Rose Siding]

4. And this guy's someone who would have gone looking for the worst

-in executing his job. I can't imagine the things he must've seen :(

[pitohui]

20. "everybody" ?

speak for yourself, soothsayer

there is no prozac, no anti-depressant, no pill in the known universe...that can make what happened not have happened

i know lots of people, including myself, who are not on drugs

the only drug we want is a time machine -- pfizer can get back w. me when they invent such a device

[niyad]

2. another of the cabal's victims. I hope that he can get the help he needs

and find some peace of mind.

[Sequoia]

3. Yet another victim of Katrina and Bush's failure to act or care.

[rubberducky]

7. Amen!

When the people of NO really needed a leader to take charge the white house let them starve. They needed General Honore from day one.

[liberalmuse]

5. F*cking Bush. How many lives has he destroyed?

He's like an epidemic of evil. That poor man (the photographer, not Bush). There are many, MANY more people like him all over the world, thanks to Bush's policies.

[Sequoia]

9. He saved the snowflakes.

[MissWaverly]

10. and what has he done exactly for that

maintained the freezer on a steady 42 degrees, I imagine the costs are covered by the parents
who "adopt" the frozen embryos.

[Sequoia]

12. 42 degrees, like beer cool.

[MissWaverly]

13. I am just assuming that it would be the temp of a normal cooling

unit, since they are biological specimens but I could be wrong.

[MichaelHarris]

6. It's sad

most of the people down there haven't realized that they've been "suicide-by-Bush". He didn't even give them the taser choice.

[wicket]

8. May he get the help he needs

n/t

[rudy23]

11. These next couple of months will be a nightmare

I know several people with PTSD, and I hope beyond hope that it doesn't flare up around the end of this month, or when another hurricane hits.

[Rose Siding]

16. That's right- anniversaries of events are catalysts

I wonder how much that has to do with increased violence we've heard about.

[pitohui]

21. oh god it was very bad today

i don't want to dwell but there were some horrifying and scarifying and traumatizing storms in the greater new orleans area today

i am still shaking

they need to invent something that works, a damn pill is not gonna do diddly

[chat_noir]

14. 'Times-Pic' Editor Comments on Arrest of Photographer

Peter Kovacs, one of two managing editors at the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, received a phone call at home last night at about 8:30 p.m. Staffers back at the office informed him that one of paper's key photographers in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, John McCusker, had been arrested after a police car chase. "I was on the phone with people at the paper about it all night," he told E&P, "through the deadline period of about 11 p.m."

Kovacs would learn that McCusker, still suffering from the trauma of experiencing, and covering, the hurricane's effects, had begged cops to kill him, in a "suicide-by-cop" attempt, as police called it.

With Editor Jim Amoss out on vacation, Kovacs and others at the paper had to deal with both covering the event as a news story and helping McCusker, who is also known locally as a jazz expert and tour guide. Kovacs said Page One Editor Terry Baquet went to the scene, but offered few other details of the paper's involvement.

"I think was still there when Terry got there," Kovacs said. "I think he saw him, but I can’t recall the details." Baquet could not immediately be reached for comment.

http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002984479&imw=Y

A prayer for Mr. McCusker's recovery.

[shrike]

15. The people in my neck of the woods still think the Katrina victims

are sh*ttin' in high cotton, so to speak.

They think everyone got rich down there and everyone's having a ball. And that fraudsters lined up to get all the free government money. They don't want to hear anything different. Their eyes glaze over.

[rudy23]

17. Lots of people think that

Lots of people also think the lord sent Katrina to wipe my family members' houses out and kill a couple thousand people who had it coming. At least that's what my Repuke co-workers tell me, to my face.

I am troubled that more Democratic leaders aren't making more of an issue out of this, but I guess we don't poll well with anybody down here.

New Orleans was swiftboated, and that adds an extra element to all this. Besides going through something this awful, then realizing the people you thought would help are not going to, then being told that it's your fault and you deserve it--now rot in your own filth.

[pitohui]

22. to your face? jesus, we need to revive us some voodoo!

rude people suck and people who bully disaster victims clearly lack a soul

i do think our democratic leaders try to get media attention but what can mary do or blanco do when the fucking press is owned by the lying nazi whores

"new orleans was swiftboated" that's a very good description of it

you said -- At least that's what my Repuke co-workers tell me, to my face.

[shrike]

25. Then there are the folks who think Katrina

was God's way of telling us NO shouldn't be in existence, and that it shouldn't be rebuilt.

And that Barbara Bush's comments were taken out of context.

Sickening. And my condolences re: your family members' home. It's tough to lose your castle.

[Robb]

18. Some of his work:

[pitohui]

19. jesus this is a tragedy

i hope there is some way to help him, unfortunately, i don't know of any "therapy" that can make what happened not happened

it just never seems to end

[kainah]

23. very, very sad

especially because, only in an inherently violent society, would the concept of "suicide by cop" even develop.

I'd bet there were more than a few of those cops who sympathized and almost wanted to help put him out of his obvious misery.

Very depressing story.........

[Marie26]

24. That poor man.

[IronLionZion]

26. Depression and suicide are serious problems down there

When Katrina hit a lot of local rescue workers quit or killed themselves because they lost everything and couldn't bear to see the horrible things they were seeing. It really is unbelievable that a tragedy like that could happen here in America. But that should be a lesson to us all for many reasons. It can happen here.

[KamaAina]

27. The "Tipsy" ends up covering itself

for today, at least, I will refrain from calling it the "Cat Box Liner" as I used to when I read it daily (mostly for the want ads).

I will, however, point out that even on a story that touches them directly, they went with the "rip 'n' read" AP story:

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-26/1155217475289970.xml&storylist=louisiana

McCusker, a photographer who was part of The Times-Picayune's 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning staff, was seen driving wildly through the city Tuesday, attracting the attention of police.

He eventually was arrested, but not before he was subdued with a Taser and an officer fired twice at his vehicle. During the melee, he begged police to kill him. One officer suffered minor injuries....

"There are all these things you're trying to deal with in your own life — not enough insurance, family problems, your health problems," said Arey, who already knew McCusker. "And then day in and day out, we get to see the wreckage of our city and people's lives. It's not easy to handle."...

During the leave, the article says, McCusker spent much of his time sleeping off exhaustion and attending therapy sessions three times a week. He told the magazine he'd essentially become nonfunctional.

If we're not careful, the destruction of minds will finish what Bush** and Heckuvajob Brownie started. :grr: