5-17-18
AN UNIDENTIFIED PERSON DROWNED IN IBERIA PARISH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
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THE JEFF DAVIS PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE HAS ARRESTED A KINDER MAN FOR SEVERELY BEATING A WOMAN LAST MONTH. CHIEF DEPUTY CHRISTOPHER IVEY SAYS THAT WHEN THE WOMAN TRIED TO LEAVE, 66-YEAR-OLD DARRELL PAUL COMEAUX FOLLOWED HER, TACKLED HER AND BEAT HER IN THE HEAD. IVEY SAYS THE WOMAN SUFFERED SEVERE HEAD INJURIES THAT REQUIRED BRAIN SURGERY. LAST THURSDAY, WHILE AT OUR LADY OF LOURDES HOSPITAL, SHE ADMITTED THAT COMEAUX BEAT HER, LEADING TO HIS ARREST ON A CHARGE OF ATTEMPTED MANSLAUGHTER.
LAFAYETTE PARISH VOTERS WILL BE VOTING ON A SALES TAX ON DECEMBER EIGHTH THAT WOULD HELP FUND THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE AND THE LAFAYETTE POLICE DEPARTMENT. CURRENTLY THERE’S A ONE CENT SALES TAX THAT APPLIES ONLY IN THE UNINCOPORATED PARTS OF THE PARISH. UNDER THE PROPOSAL FROM SHERIFF MARK GARBER, IF APPROVED, THE SALES TAX WOULD BE REDUCED TO THREE-QUARTERS OF A CENT, BUT APPLY TO THE WHOLE PARISH. IT WOULD RAISE AN ADDITIONAL 34 MILLION DOLLARS, ALLOWING BOTH DEPARTMENTS TO HIRE MORE OFFICERS AND DEPUTIES.
Lawmakers in the Louisiana House have refused to pass a measure that could allow school employees to pray with students during the class day. With a 68-21 vote Wednesday, they gutted the proposal from Republican Sen. Ryan Gatti. As passed by the Senate, the measure would have allowed teachers and other workers to pray with students during the workday, if parents of every student in attendance submit a signed request and the prayer is student-initiated. House lawmakers stripped that language, urged by conservative members who said the change likely would provoke a lawsuit that could undermine existing “religious freedom” laws.
Efforts to rework Louisiana’s free college tuition program have fizzled in the legislative session. The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday rejected two bills to expand the TOPS program, killing the final TOPS-related legislation still pending. One measure by Sen. Bodi White, a Baton Rouge Republican, would have created a new award for TOPS students who attend community college, get an associate degree and enroll in a four-year university. The other by Sen. Wesley Bishop, a New Orleans Democrat, would have offered TOPS awards to students who weren’t initially eligible when they started a four-year university but meet certain criteria after two years in college.
IMPAIRMENT AND EXCESSIVE SPEED ARE BELIEVED TO BE FACTORS IN A FATAL CRASH ON L-A 92 IN ACADIA PARISH EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING. AT AROUND 6:30 A-M, 21-YEAR-OLD JOHNATHAN PATIN OF MORSE RAN HIS PICKUP OFF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY AND INTO A DITCH. A FRONT SEAT PASSENGER WHO WAS NOT WEARING A SEATBELT, 32-YEAR-OLD KRISS STOUTE OF MORSE, WAS EJECTED FROM THE VEHICLE, AND PRONOUNCED DEAD AT THE SCENE. THE DRIVER AND FIVE OTHER OCCUPANTS SUSTAINED MODERATE TO MINOR INJURIES.
A JUDGE HAS ORDERED CONFESSED CHILD KILLER RICKEY LANGLEY TO BE HELD WITHOUT BOND WHILE THE CALCASIEU PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE APPEALS HIS CASE. THE U-S FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS OVERTURNED LANGLEY’S SECOND DEGREE MURDER CONVICTION BECAUSE THEY SAID THE PROSECUTION FAILED TO PROVE HE HAD A SPECIFIC INTENT TO KILL SIX-YEAR-OLD JEREMY GUILLORY IN 1992. PROSECUTOR RICK BRYANT SAYS THAT IN HIS CONFESSION, LANGLEY SAID THAT HE FOUND PLEASURE IN KILLING THE BOY AND HE WOULD DO IT AGAIN IF HE WAS TO BE RELEASED. BRYANT SAYS HE’S RECEIVED MANY LETTERS FROM LANGLEY AND IN THE MOST RECENT HE SAID HE WANTS TO STAY IN PRISON.
LAFAYETTE POLICE ARE LOOKING FOR A MAN WHO ROBBED A BANK YESTERDAY MORNING. AT AROUND 11:50, POLICE RECEIVED A CALL ABOUT A BANK ROBBERY IN PROGRESS AT CHASE BANK IN THE OIL CENTER ON PINHOOK ROAD. A TALL BLACK MAN WITH A THIN BUILD BRANDISHED A SILVER FIREARM AND WAR A WHITE CLOTH OVER HIS FACE AS HE DEMANDED MONEY FROM A TELLER. HE FLED THE BANK ON FOOT
