LEONARD GRAY

PHOTO: Bank robbery suspect, Calvin Williams, 20, waits for medical treatment Tuesday morning, after his vehicle went off the road at the end of hot pursuit from First American Bank in Boutte to River Road in Luling. (Staff Photo by Leonard Gray) LULING – A suspect in Tuesday’s bank robbery in Boutte quickly found himself boxed in by pursuing deputies, sideswiped a passing car and piled up against a utility pole on River Road in Luling. Lt. Dwayne LaGrange of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office reported that First American Bank, at 13355 U.S. Highway 90 in Boutte, reported that a black suspect entered at 9:30 a.m. and robbed the bank of a quantity of cash. He then fled in a late-model Chrysler Fifth Avenue and drove east onto Interstate 310. With deputies already in hot pursuit, the suspect exited at River Road in Luling, looked left, and saw more deputies, lights flashing, coming in his direction from Hahnville. LaGrange said the suspect tried to U-turn and re-enter the interstate, spotted the deputies who had chased him from Boutte, spun and turned east on River Road, toward the intersection with Paul Maillard Road. In front of Frank & Tina’s Restaurant, the suspect clipped an oncoming Ford Tempo, causing damage to the driver’s front fender. He then lost control, veered right on two wheels, and sandwiched the car between a utility pole and a fire hydrant. The driver of the Ford was not injured, and the unidentified suspect sustained a minor injury to his left arm. LaGrange said the suspect was not forthcoming in providing officers with his name, but he was later identified as 20-year-old Calvin Williams of New Orleans. Williams had several outstanding warrants, and after being transported to St. Charles Parish Hospital for treatment, he was questioned further by detectives, LaGrange said. “We are extremely proud of the fact that we’ve got some pretty outstanding numbers in catching bank robbers,” LaGrange said, and added most, if not all bank robberies in the past five years resulted in the robbers being apprehended almost immediately. He credited this to the number of deputies on the streets, usually 30 deputies at any one time in various departments, the promptness of their response to an emergency and the skills they exhibit in corralling a suspect on the parish’s main roads.