First lawsuit over ‘foreseeable and preventable’ attack on New Orleans announced against city, police

A law firm announced its plans to sue the city and NOPD for ‘their failure to implement basic safety precautions’ that ‘paved the way’ for the massacre

The first lawsuit over the terror attack in New Orleans is set to be filed and targets police for its “negligence” leading to the New Year’s Day rampage that left 14 dead and dozens injured.

Law firm Maples & Connick, LLC announced Saturday its plans to file a lawsuit against the city and the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) “for their failure to implement basic safety precautions for citizens and visitors” that “paved the way” for the attack. The suit will be filed at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 8, the firm claims.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, “intentionally” drove a rented Ford pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street mere hours into the new year, the FBI has said. Fourteen people were killed and 35 people were injured in the terror attack. The suspect had also planned to detonate two explosives that he had planted on Bourbon Street hours before he plowed into the crowd, authorities said.

Police killed Jabbar while exchanging gunfire.

A law firm has announced plans to sue New Orleans police and the city over the terror attack that left 14 people dead (Chris Granger)

The law firm’s evidence will demonstrate that the attack was “both foreseeable and preventable,” the release said. No further details were provided.

“Because of the negligence of the NOPD and the City of New Orleans, 14 innocent lives were lost. Dozens more were injured, and the courses of their lives forever changed,” the firm said in a release.

In the wake of the attack, the city has been scrutinized for its lack of barriers, known as bollards, that were absent during the New Year’s Day attack.

“Bollards were not up,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a press conference.

The bollards along Bourbon Street, a bustling tourist strip where the incident transpired, had been removed for repairs in preparation for when the city hosts the Super Bowl on February 9. Different barriers were put in place for New Year’s Eve, police said.

“We did have a car there, we had barriers there, we had officers there, and they still got around,” Anne Kirkpatrick, superintendent of police, said at a press conference.

A memorial on Bourbon Street sits at the site of a deadly truck attack on New Year's Day. A planned lawsuit accused police of ‘negligence’ leading to the attack (AP)

Five years before the massacre, a security firm warned that the bollards meant to prevent vehicles from entering Bourbon Street did “not appear to work,” the New York Times reported.

The report was prepared in November 2019 for the group that manages the city’s French Quarter; the firm suggested fixing the barriers immediately. It also warned: “The two modes of terror attack likely to be used are vehicular ramming and active shooting.”

In its release, the firm said: “Jabbar exploited the NOPD’s gross negligence, resulting in a horrific act that is now etched into the archives of our great City’s history.”

Authorities are investigating the motive behind the deadly attack, but have said that the terror suspect “proclaimed his support for ISIS” ahead of the massacre.

The firm is encouraging family members of those impacted by the tragedy to reach out.

“The survivors of this tragic event will bear the emotional and physical scars for the rest of their lives,” the firm said. “The affected individuals and the citizens of New Orleans deserve answers.”