A man wanted in connection with several property crimes turned the French Quarter into his personal obstacle course Wednesday evening, leading New Orleans police on not one but two chases in about 20 minutes. Officers initially caught the suspect, put him in a patrol car, and started heading back to the Eighth District station. Somewhere along that short ride, he slipped away, sprinted off again, and left one officer hurt in the scramble to bring him back in. As of Wednesday night, police had not yet released formal charges.
According to WDSU, which cited Project NOLA, officers first spotted the man on the 500 block of Frenchmen Street and chased him on foot until they got him into custody. They placed him in an NOPD patrol car headed to the Eighth District station. Before they arrived, he allegedly took off from the vehicle, sparking a second pursuit. During that round, one officer was injured while trying to complete the arrest, the outlet reported.
How Project NOLA fits in
Project NOLA is a privately run camera network that provides real-time alerts and, in some cases, facial and clothing recognition matches to law enforcement, a practice that has drawn scrutiny from civil liberties advocates and residents alike. Reporting by CNN details how the system can push alerts directly to officers and has been used in past arrests in the French Quarter.
Officer injured, questions linger
Local reporting indicated the injured officer was hurt while attempting to take the suspect into custody during the second chase. WDSU reported that it had reached out to the New Orleans Police Department for comment and for an update on the officer’s condition, but the station had not received a response at the time of publication.
Context: crime and crowd control in the Quarter…