New Orleans is getting a little more like the carefree city it was before Hurricane Katrina.
Granted, it’s still a little strange to see armed National Guard members patrolling the famously festive Bourbon Street. And one afternoon this week, New Orleans police officers shot and killed a man brandishing a knife, prompting concerns from community leaders that cops might be a little quick on the trigger.
But Pat Rowan, 53, makes the case that things might be getting a little easier in the Big Easy.
Rowan moved to New Orleans three weeks ago from the eternally chilly city of Duluth, Minn. (Full discloser: I used to work there.)
Rowan was walking down Bourbon Street this week when he came across one of the New Orleans Police Department’s Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
A fan of both beer and Harleys, he thought it would be fun to get a picture on the impressive craft while holding a beer. He told the nearby officer of his scheme, but the officer had a better idea. The officer fired up the motorcycle and told Rowan to drive it across the street (sans beer), turn around and drive toward the camera-wielding officer.
“I couldn’t believe he let me do that,” Rowan said Friday night.
Don’t believe him? Rowan’s got a picture to prove it.