On the morning of Jan. 28, New Orleans Police Department Officer Nicola Cotton, 24, was fatally shot while attempting to arrest a subject who matched the description of a rape suspect. Cotton was patrolling alone in her cruiser when she responded to the call of a suspicious person, possibly the perpetrator of a sexual assault. As Cotton attempted to handcuff the man, who was twice her size, he began to struggle, causing Cotton to lose control of her radio. She was able to recover it and called for assistance. Cotton fought the subject for several minutes. She was overpowered when he gained control of her baton and beat her with it. He then took her duty weapon, a .40-caliber Glock, and shot her 15 times. The assault was captured by surveillance video.
Responding units arrived on scene approximately two minutes after Cotton was shot. They located the subject still holding her service weapon. He was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder.
Cotton was in the first police academy graduating class after Hurricane Katrina. She had served with the department for two years and was eight weeks pregnant at the time of her murder.
This information was provided by the Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring America s fallen law enforcement officers. For more information on this incident, other line-of-duty death reports and law enforcement memorials, visit www.odmp.org.
