Troop NOLA arrests stunt driver after 133 mph chase across Twin Span on Mardi Gras

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Multiple vehicles and pedestrians had blocked the intersection of Chef Menteur Highway and Press Street at around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to court documents, leading New Orleans police to request assistance from State Police Troop NOLA officers. "People have been hurt doing these exhibition stunts, and (they) create a danger to the public," the NOPD said in a police report. Illegal stunt driving events surged across New Orleans in 2022, leading to public safety concerns and and stiffer penalties including charges of aggravated obstruction of a highway, which carries a potential sentence of up to 15 years in jail. Police said Gautreaux's distinctive white Cadillac, with a switched license plate, was among the vehicles to flee the scene. NOPD Lt. Troy Pichon and Troop NOLA Capt. Rodney Hyatt pursued Gautreaux in a marked Chevy Tahoe with lights and sirens blazing as he entered Interstate 10 traveling east to Slidell, the police gist said. The chase across the Twin Span bridge maxed out the Tahoe's top speed as it chased Gautreaux, who allegedly switched off his tail lights "in an attempt to disappear and lose troopers in the dark," the gist states. Hyatt ordered spike strips placed at the end of the bridge, the gist states. Those strips deflated the Cadillac's front left tire, Gautreaux lost control of the car, and officers "deployed a vehicle intervention stop technique," the gist states. Gautreaux was arrested and booked into Orleans Justice Center on aggravated flight from an officer, obstruction of justice, aggravated obstruction of a highway of commerce, reckless operation of a vehicle, a switched license plate, and having his vehicle lights off. The aggravated obstruction of a highway count carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence upon a conviction. On Wednesday, Orleans Parish magistrate commissioner Jonathan Friedman set Gautreaux's bond at $55,000. Gautreaux remained jailed Friday. If he makes bond, he will be sent to St. Tammany Parish to face charges related to the same incident there, Friedman said.

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Friedman said. Gautreaux is currently on probation after doing donut burnouts and blocking the intersection of St. Phillip Street and South Boulevard in Baton Rouge, then running stop signs and speeding as he fled Baton Rouge police on April 9, 2023. He pleaded guilty last year to aggravated obstruction of a highway of commerce and received two years probation

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You get on the longest bridge this side of the world being chased by cops

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