At a drug store on Canal Street just outside the French Quarter, two police officers with pump shotguns stood guard as workers from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel across the street loaded large laundry bins full of medications, snack foods and bottled water.
"This is for the sick," Officer Jeff Jacob said. "We can commandeer whatever we see fit, whatever is necessary to maintain law."
Another office, D.J. Butler, told the crowd standing around that they would be out of the way as soon as they got the necessities.
"I'm not saying you're welcome to it," the officer said. "This is the situation we're in. We have to make the best of it."
Wow. Even the cops are giving it a pass.