Chase ends in high-speed Interstate 10 crash
Published 12:03 am Saturday, April 18, 2015
- Police released this photo of people who be involved in recent car burglaries.
LAPLACE — A Belle Chasse man pushed a deputy and led police on a foot and vehicle chase before being arrested on Interstate 10 this week, authorities said.
Samuel Gabriel
A St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy was on patrol at 1:46 a.m. Monday in the 1100 block of North Sugar Ridge Drive in LaPlace when he saw two men in a parked car, Sheriff Mike Tregre said in a release.
Due to recent property crimes in the area, the deputy conducted an investigative stop.
Sgt. Dane Clement said in the seven days before Monday, the Sheriff’s Office logged 10 car burglaries in neighborhoods to the north and east of North Sugar Ridge Drive.
“When the deputy asked what they were doing in the area, the men told the deputy different stories,” Tregre said. “The driver told the deputy his name was Furnell Gabriel, but later the deputy identified the man by a Louisiana driver’s license as Samuel Gabriel, 40, of Belle Chasse.”
The deputy identified the passenger as Gary Hulbert, 42, of New Orleans.
When the deputy was attempting to arrest Gabriel for resisting a deputy by giving false identification, Tregre said Gabriel pushed the deputy and fled on foot, starting a pursuit.
The suspect made it back to his car and fled.
Responding deputies followed him onto I-10 east.
“He crashed into the side rail and continued until his car failed at milepost 218,” Tregre said. “Deputies arrested Gabriel and transported him to St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office Sherman Walker Correctional Center for booking. During the booking process, deputies found Gabriel was in possession of 47 pills that were identified as two different legend drugs.”
Deputies booked Samuel Gabriel with resisting a deputy, battery of a deputy, aggravated flight from a deputy, resisting a deputy with force of violence, reckless operation of a vehicle, operating a vehicle with a suspended license and two counts of possession of a legend drug without a prescription.
Clement Hulbert cooperated with authorities, was not charged with any crimes and was not in the vehicle when the suspect led authorities on the police chase.
According to Clement, investigators do not believe Gabriel is involved in the recent rash of car burglaries and added police are circulating pictures of people of interest in the case.
