Fire on the Levee

 “A riveting tale told with care and expertise.” —David Simon, creator of The Wire

The former federal prosecutor and founder of Justice Innovation Lab tells the story of his struggle to unravel the cover-up of a police shooting, and subsequent incineration of the shooting victim, in Hurricane Katrina–era New Orleans.

In 2009, Jared Fishman was a young prosecutor working on low-level civil rights cases in the Justice Department when a file landed on his desk. That folder contained two items: a story from The Nation magazine examining a mysterious death in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and an autopsy report for a man named Henry Glover, whose charred remains were found in a burned-out car two weeks after the storm. The autopsy report, bafflingly, listed no cause of death. But according to The Nation story, a gravely wounded Glover had last been seen in a car driven by a New Orleans police officer.

Intrigued despite the lack of evidence, Fishman set out to learn what happened to Glover. He flew to New Orleans and teamed up with a rookie FBI agent, and together they started to track down anyone with information about what had happened to Glover on that day.

Fire on the Levee tells the story of a young idealistic prosecutor determined to bring the truth to light. The case would lead to major reforms in the New Orleans Police Department and ultimately change our understanding of race, policing and justice in post-Katrina New Orleans and beyond.