NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A handcuffed suspect stole a Louisiana sheriff’s deputy’s patrol unit on Monday, leading authorities on a chase that resulted in a crash involving another deputy’s car, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect, possibly still handcuffed, remained on the loose Monday afternoon. The stolen vehicle was found abandoned in New Orleans Monday morning.
Around 5 a.m., a deputy in St. Charles Parish, west of New Orleans, answered a call about a man, possibly using heroin in a car parked behind a gas station in St. Rose.
When the deputy arrived, the man drove away, then crashed into a ditch. According to a news release from Cpl. James Grimaldi of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, deputies caught the man after that accident, and he was placed, handcuffed, in the rear of the responding deputy’s patrol SUV.
“The deputy then began investigating the scene of the crash, but just a few minutes after securing the suspect in the patrol vehicle, he observed his patrol vehicle driving away,” Grimaldi’s statement said.
In the resulting chase, another St. Charles deputy was involved in a crash in neighboring Jefferson Parish. No serious injuries were reported.
Deputies lost sight of the stolen vehicle in New Orleans.
St. Charles deputies were told around 8 a.m. that it was found abandoned on a New Orleans street, Grimaldi said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.