New Orleans attack would’ve had ‘completely different outcome’ if steel barriers were used, inventor says

Peter Whitford says Archer barriers, which the city had stored away, have record of stopping vehicle rammings

The deadly New Year's Day truck attack in New Orleans would have had a completely different outcome" if city officials had put out 700lb (317kg) barriers that they bought years earlier and have a track record of preventing intentional vehicle rammings, the blockades' inventor has told the Guardian.

But the city did not have a full slate of accessories to help move and deploy" those steel Archer barriers quickly in the way they were designed to be - and how authorities elsewhere have managed to do it, Peter Whitford, the chief executive officer of the Meridian Rapid Defense Group, said in an interview.