For nearly eight years, the city of New Orleans has possessed 700-pound, steel anti-vehicle barriers.
But they weren't deployed ahead of the New Year's Day attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens of others.
The CEO of the Meridian Rapid Defense Group told NBC 5 Investigates he sold 48 of the so-called Archer barriers to the city of New Orleans in 2017, following the 2016 deadly ramming attack in Nice, France, and said he wasn't sure why they weren't in use.
"That's a question I can't answer; that's a question you'd have to ask them," CEO Peter Whitford told NBC 5 Investigates Friday.
NBC 5 Investigates reached out to New Orleans city officials early Friday morning and again Friday afternoon. A city spokeswoman said she would get back to us. NBC News first reported Thursday evening on New Orleans' Archer barriers. When Bourbon Street re-opened Thursday afternoon, the New Orleans Police Chief was asked about them, as she described to reporters how the city was now implementing additional security measures in wake of the attack.
When asked about where the barriers came from, she said:
"Actually, we have them. I did not know about them, but we have them, so we have been able to put them out."
Video from New Orleans shows street crews offloading the yellow steel anti-vehicle barriers in the hours after the New Year's Day ramming attack.
Published photos show them now set up near the makeshift memorial for the victims along Bourbon Street.
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"They are an American product, 700 pounds of American steel that are made in our factories. We rent and sell these. It is the strongest mobile barrier in the world," Whitford said.
Prior to the New Year's Day attack, New Orleans was in the middle of a months-long project to replace street bollards and were using other barriers like police cars to restrict traffic flow.
But video from that night shows the white Ford F-150 pickup, driven by 42-year-old Shamsud-din Jabbar, going right around the police car set up to block traffic. You can see the truck make a right turn onto Bourbon Street before accelerating, mowing down New Year's revelers.
When asked if he thought the attack would've had a different result if the Archer barriers had been deployed, Whitford said: "I think there would be a completely different outcome; I think that is reasonable to say."
Whitford says his product has been used in Pasadena to protect the Rose Bowl parade. And the City of Chicago has a $2 million contract for the barriers which the city deployed Friday outside of Wrigley Field ahead of the Big Ten hockey tournament which is set to begin.
On Thursday, 15th Ward Ald. Ray Lopez announced he would like to see the Archer barriers be required for permitted street festivals throughout Chicago.
NBC News reported Friday that it had reviewed law enforcement documents showing that vehicle ramming attacks remain a highly viable option for terrorists and underscore the need for protective measures including restricting vehicle access with blocking cars, bollards or steel barriers.
