By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A 19-year-old Reserve man was arrested on manslaughter charges in connection with a fistfight that killed a LaPlace man, said a spokesman for the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Jeremy Pierre, 199 E. 24th St., was initially booked with two counts of second-degree battery following the fight, which hospitalized two men, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Andy Breaux. Breaux said one charge was elevated to manslaughter after one of the victims, 48-year-old Marcelle Perrilloux, died from his injuries around 6 a.m. Wednesday morning at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge.

According to a Sheriff’s Office report, the incident began around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of East 23rd Street in Reserve when Perrilloux attempted to break up a fight between Pierre and 29-year-old Murphy Taylor of LaPlace. As Perrilloux tried to intervene, Pierre punched him in the face.

Breaux said Perrilloux fell to the ground and was knocked unconscious when his head hit the street. Perrilloux was taken by ambulance to River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace before being transferred to Our Lady of the Lake.

The report said Pierre and Taylor were arguing over money. Taylor was allegedly going to take Pierre to the store but Pierre had no money. Breaux said Pierre looked inside a relative’s car for money, and Taylor told him not to remove anything.

The two men argued and then began to fight. Breaux said Pierre punched Taylor in the face, and when Perrilloux arrived to break up the fight, he was also punched. A relative transported Taylor to River Parishes Hospital for treatment of an unspecified injury. Breaux said he was released later that day.

According to the report, Pierre fled the scene on foot in an unknown direction, but was later apprehended during a traffic stop on Airline Highway near East St. John High School. Breaux said deputies stopped a vehicle around 12:05 a.m. Wednesday carrying Pierre and an unidentified female driver.

Perrilloux’s death is the sixth reported homicide in St. John Parish this year. Breaux said Pierre is being held in the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in lieu of bond.