In the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans, a place she knew from her own childhood, 24-year-old Police Officer Nicola Diane Cotton was on patrol alone on the morning of January 28, 2008. A two-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department, she was dispatched to the 2000 block of Earhart Boulevard shortly after 9:30 a.m. There, she encountered a man named Bernel P. Johnson, who was 44 at the time and sitting on a curb.
Officer Cotton, who was eight weeks pregnant, was informed, it would later turn out erroneously, that Johnson was a suspect in a rape case.
A protracted struggle ensued when the slender, 5-foot-5 officer attempted to handcuff the much larger Johnson, who stood at 5-foot-8 and weighed 200 pounds. The altercation, which reportedly lasted for seven minutes and was captured by a store's surveillance camera, saw Johnson overpower the young officer. During the fight, he choked her, struck her with her own expandable baton, and ultimately gained control of her. 40 caliber Glock service weapon. Officer Cotton managed to radio for help during the struggle, but it was too late. Johnson stood over her and fired 15 shots. Responding officers arrived within minutes to find Johnson still holding Officer Cotton's weapon. She was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.
Bernel P. Johnson was arrested at the scene and subsequently booked on charges of first-degree murder. As the case moved through the legal system, it came to light that Johnson had a history of mental illness. Just weeks before his fatal encounter with Officer Cotton, he had been diagnosed as mentally ill and dangerous and was briefly committed to the state's mental health system before being released for reasons that remain unclear. Ultimately, in September 2010, a judge ruled that Johnson was mentally incompetent to stand trial. He was committed to a state forensic hospital in Jackson, Louisiana, where he would be held indefinitely.
