Homeowner Catches 40-mile South Louisiana Police Chase on Video

Abbeville, LA (KPEL News) - Law enforcement officials from five south Louisiana agencies were involved in a 40-mile police chase that took them through Abbeville, Kaplan, and Crowley, and a homeowner captured part of it on surveillance video.

At least 17 police units from Abbeville Police, Kaplan Police, Crowley Police, Acadia Parish Sheriff, and Louisiana State Police responded during the pursuit.

The release from the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's Office suggests that, at the time the order was issued, officials believed that the man was a danger to himself or others. The release states:

... department received an Order of Protection signed by the Vermilion Parish Coroner....

According to Louisiana Revised Statute 28:53.2, such a document signed by a parish coroner or a judge:

may order a person to be taken into protective custody and transported to a treatment facility or the office of the coroner for immediate examination when a peace officer or other credible person executes a statement under private signature specifying that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the person has a mental illness or is suffering from a substance-related or addictive disorder and is in need of immediate treatment to protect the person or others from physical harm.

Because of the details of the protective order, the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's Office Special Response Team responded at 2:15 Wednesday afternoon. When they arrived at the address on West Oak Street in Abbeville, the man was sitting in the driver's seat of a white pickup truck and had an object in his hand.

Team members began trying to negotiate with the man to surrender and, after a half hour, the man started the truck.

As deputies continued to try to get the man out of the truck, he began cutting himself on the neck with what they believe was a box blade.

The man fled when law enforcement tried to go help him.

The chase led them from Abbeville through Kaplan, north on Highway 13, through the city of Crowley, where he turned on a neighborhood road to get onto Highway 90.

The video below was captured on surveillance video at one of the homes in the Crowley neighborhood. The homeowner tells me that more police units followed the ones in the video.

The man headed east on Highway 90 towards Rayne, but officials were able to deploy spike strips that punctured the tires on the driver's side of the truck.

He continued down Highway 90 until he crashed into a ditch near the intersection with Monceaux Road.

The man was taken into custody at 6:19.

He was transported to the hospital in Crowley because of his self-inflicted injuries.

HIPPA laws prevent the man's name and details of the protective order to be released.