‘Back injuries’ and ‘a tripping hazard’: New Orleans officials still resisting anti-ramming barriers after deadly vehicle attack

Unearthed emails detail concerns about injuries and work duties in utilizing devices that might have prevented New Year's terrorist attack

At least some public safety officials in New Orleans evidently remain skeptical of easily deployable, 700lb steel barriers designed to prevent intentional vehicle ramming attacks - even after one carried out on the city's most famous street on New Year's Day killed 14 people and injured 67 others, according to a trove of government emails obtained by the Guardian.

Received through a public records request, the emails detail how the inventor of so-called Archer barriers - which the city had bought but kept in storage on the day of the deadly Bourbon Street attack - encountered a measure of resistance when he traveled to New Orleans with his company of his own volition to train local authorities on how to expeditiously deploy the barricades.