Denham Springs police officer thrown from motorcycle, seriously injured in BR

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A Denham Springs police officer was hospitalized after a motorcycle wreck Monday evening.

Officer James E. Foster Jr. was not conscious or breathing when paramedics arrived at the scene, though he was conscious and breathing by the time he was taken to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, said Denham Springs police Detective Glenn Lemoine.

Foster, was in critical condition and undergoing surgery Monday evening, Lemoine said, adding that he was asking for people to pray for the officer.

“He’s in bad shape,” Lemoine said.

Foster was responding to a wreck on Interstate 12 eastbound when he crashed about 5:30 p.m. He was riding a 2012 Harley Davidson south on O’Neal Lane in Baton Rouge when a northbound Honda Accord driven by Janet B. Guedry, 78, turned left in front of him at East Riverdale Avenue, said Trooper First Class Jared Sandifer, a State Police spokesman.

Sandifer said the 39-year-old officer ran into the side of the Accord and was thrown about 80 feet and landed in the road, breaking several bones, the detective said.

Foster and the two cruisers he was riding with had all activated their lights and sirens, Lemoine said. Foster was also wearing his helmet, Sandifer said.

Guedry, who was wearing a seatbelt, was not injured, Sandifer added. Police do not suspect that either driver was intoxicated, and have cited Guedry for failure to yield, but the investigation continues, Sandifer said. No other vehicles were involved in the wreck.

“Please keep the entire DSPD ‘family,’ and officers gathered from other municipalities, in your thoughts as they wait with the family at the hospital,” Denham Springs City Councilwoman Annie Fugler said in an email

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