Tagged: police

A 20-year-old man on the run from New Orleans police officers shot and killed himself this morning in the 3000-block of Sandra Drive in Algiers, the police department said today in a press release.

Police say the man fled from Fourth District officers after they spotted him on Sandra Drive with a gun. The man, whose name is being withheld pending notification of his family, fired several shots at the police when they began pursuing him. Officers requested backup and set up a perimeter, and did not return fire.

A state judge declared a mistrial after defense attorneys provided evidence they say supports their client's alibi.

The Times-Picayune reports 28-year-old Derrick Francois has claimed he was in Mississippi when Gretna police say he barged into a home in April 2011 and shot Chandrick Harris in the head.

Francois's defense attorneys say that only this week they've gotten paycheck stubs that back their client's claim that he was working in Pascagoula when Harris was killed.

Overall crime in Gretna decreased 13 percent last year.

The Times-Picayune reports Police Chief Arthur Lawson told the city council Wednesday night that no murders were reported in 2012 and declines were recorded in all categories of crime except thefts, which registered a slight bump.

Lawson said the department logged a 12 percent rise in arrests. He says officers are assigned small patrol beats which allow them to pass through an area repeatedly and catch criminals in the act, which happens often.

Newly elected Clinton Mayor Lori Ann Bell has appointed Fred G. Dunn as the town's police chief replacing Police Chief Eddie Stewart.

The Advocate reports Stewart, who had served three years as police chief during the administration of defeated Mayor Don Reason, left Wednesday's meeting without comment after the Board of Aldermen concurred with Bell's appointment.

Stewart also served as chief for 12 years until he was forced out by then-Mayor Donald Jefferson in 2005.