BRPD, EBRSO search for fugitive
Authorities are looking for a fugitive who fled from U.S. marshals Thursday when they tried to arrest him at a house off Hooper Road.
U.S. marshals and other authorities spent at least eight hours Thursday morning searching a wooded area off Hooper Road for a man they believed to be Michael Dewayne Coleman, U.S. Marshal Kevin Harrison said.
Earlier that day, a man who fit the description of Coleman fled from marshals who were trying to apprehend him on behalf of the New Roads Police Department and the Pointe Coupee Parish Sheriff’s Office, Harrison said.
The marshals were told Coleman was at a house on Corlett Drive in Sharon Hills subdivision, Harrison said. When marshals arrived, a man who looked like Coleman ran into some woods behind the house, Harrison said.
Authorities created a quarter-square-mile perimeter around the wooded area and searched inside that perimeter, Harrison said.
Baton Rouge Police spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely said the department’s helicopter was deployed to assist in the search.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said they had police dogs, deputies and detectives on scene.
Harrison said people who live in houses near the perimeter were asked to stay inside their homes and only answer the door if a law enforcement authority knocked.
Patricia McRae is one such resident and said she woke up Thursday to the sound of a helicopter hovering and dogs barking. After learning that a fugitive was on the loose, McRae said she stayed inside her home until about 1 p.m.
“It was very scary,” she said. “I was very unsettled.”
Chris Trahan, a spokesman with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, said students at Sharon Hills Elementary School on Guynell Drive were not allowed to leave their classrooms between 10 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. and extra sheriff’s deputies were at the school for the remainder of the day.
Harrison said Coleman is wanted on two counts of resisting arrest and one count of escape. The warrant stems from a December incident in which Coleman fled from Pointe Coupee sheriff’s deputies, Harrison said.
New Roads Police Chief Kevin McDonald said the deputies were trying to arrest Coleman on a burglary warrant his department issued earlier that month. Coleman allegedly burglarized a home in New Roads during the first few weeks of December, McDonald said.
When sheriff’s deputies tried to arrest him days later, Coleman fled after being handcuffed, McDonald said. Coleman has been on the loose since, McDonald said.
McDonald said Coleman has a criminal history but declined to elaborate other than to say he has never been violent.
Coleman is a black man, 6-feet-1-inch tall and 185 pounds, Harrison said.
Coleman has short hair and was wearing a red and yellow striped polo shirt and blue jeans when he ran from marshals Thursday morning, Harrison said.
Anyone who sees a man fitting Coleman’s description should call 911, Harrison said.