Man who escaped police in July captured

Published 12:25 pm Friday, August 14, 2020

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

John Henry Bartholomew

MORGAN CITY —  The U.S. Marshall Service captured John Henry Bartholomew  this week while he was hiding in a Morgan City motel.

  Police reported Bartholomew was arrested without incident after a short standoff.

Last month, State Police performed a traffic stop on I-10 in St. Charles Parish for speeding. The trooper smelled marijuana and asked the driver, identified as Bartholomew, and his passenger to step out of the car.  When the trooper tried to arrest Bartholomew, he re-entered the vehicle and drove away.

  Bartholomew  then allegedly threw  firearms out of his vehicle into the Spillway while police were  in pursuit. The weapons were reportedly a pistol and a firearm modified into an   AR style rifle,  discovered when the vehicle was searched.

Bartholomew continued into St. John Parish, where troopers attempted to use a taser on him. He fought an officer and escaped on foot into a pond.    

  The St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office assisted Louisiana State Police in a search for Bartholomew, who was described as heavy set and wearing only blue boxer shorts.   The search lead to  a heavy police presence in the area of the Palmetto and Summerlin subdivisions in LaPlace.

    The search was halted later that day due to inclement weather and the belief the suspect had fled the area.

    Bartholomew  was booked this week in  St. Charles Parish and charged with felony aggravated flight from an officer, battery and resisting a police officer, speed limit violations, operating a vehicle with license suspended, false certificates, no evidence of motor vehicle liability security and felony possession of Schedule I narcotics.