Louisiana news briefs

Man kills self in police chase, injuring couple
SHREVEPORT (AP) — A man wanted in Oklahoma on kidnapping, robbery and other charges killed himself during a police chase, causing his truck to hit a car and seriously injure an elderly couple, police said.
The chase began when investigators learned that 30-year-old Damian Pea may be in Shreveport. Authorities found him Thursday night in a pickup truck at a convenience store, Shreveport police Cpl. Breck Scott said.
They tried to arrest him but he got behind the wheel and sped off.
During the chase, police said Pea shot himself in the head. His 2005 Nissan pickup truck slammed into a 2013 Ford driven by Clayton Weaver, 81, of Shreveport, injuring him and his wife, Linda Weaver, 78.
Pea was wanted in Oklahoma County on charges including kidnapping, eluding police officers, robbery and burglary.

June 8 deadline set
for BP settlement claims
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — People and businesses who lost money because of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill have until June 8 to file claims.
The deadline doesn’t apply to seafood-related businesses. BP PLC made separate settlements for medical claims and for seafood-related business claims
A notice last week on the claims center’s website says the deadline for other economic loss claims is six months from Dec. 6, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear BP’s appeal.
The London-based oil giant argued that lower courts misinterpreted settlement terms, putting BP on the hook to pay inflated and bogus business claims.
According to the claims office website, more than 203,000 claims had been submitted by Friday. That includes nearly 89,700 businesses claiming economic loss.

For 3rd month in row, no quorum for Richwood aldermen
RICHWOOD — For the third month in a row, Richwood’s board of aldermen had too few members present to meet.
The only item on Thursday’s agenda would have authorized the mayor to fill out a questionnaire for the town’s audit. That also was on the last two agendas.
Only two of the board’s five members — Gerald Brown and Simeon Profit — attended Thursday’s meeting. Mayor Alvin Jackson also was there.

State police: Speed, lack of seat belt fatal crash factors
LAPLACE (AP) — State police say speed and failure to buckle up contributed to the death of an unidentified driver in a fiery one-car wreck on U.S. 51 near LaPlace.
Trooper Melissa Matey says a 1994 Pontiac Grand Prix went off the road about 8 p.m. Friday, then spun out. She says the rear of the car hit a tree and the car caught fire.
The wreck occurred about 1.5 miles north of Interstate 10.

Police seek suspect in Bourbon Street shooting
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Police are looking for a 26-year-old man that they say shot another man on Bourbon Street Sunday morning.
New Orleans police say they believe Wendell Butler shot an unnamed 43-year-old man after the two got into an argument over their girlfriends. They’re seeking to arrest Butler on a warrant charging him with aggravated battery.
The incident happened just before 8 a.m. Sunday.
Police say Butler shot the other man once each in his arm and leg. The victim was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery.

Fire damages University
of Louisiana-Lafayette dorm
LAFAYETTE (AP) — University of Louisiana-Lafayette officials are evaluating damage to a dormitory after a Sunday morning fire.
University officials say that a fire alarm went off in Baker Hall about 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Firefighters arrived to find a fire burning in a third-floor data equipment closet.
Students were evacuated and no injuries were reported
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but fire and water damaged equipment that provides phone and computer network service to rooms on the third and fourth floors of the dormitory.
A sprinkler system also activated, causing water damages to some rooms below the third floor.
Authorities are investigating the fire’s cause.

Lawyer sues city
of Crowley over 911 response
CROWLEY (AP) — A Crowley attorney claims that police held his two children at gunpoint and shocked him repeatedly with a stun gun when responding to a call from a neighbor who mistakenly thought she heard someone in distress.
The lawsuit against the city of Crowley, its police chief and four officers was filed Friday. That’s two days after a grand jury indicted the attorney, 45-year-old Clay LeJeune, and his wife, 40-year-old Mitzi LeJeune, for threatening and arguing with police during the May 25 incident.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages for civil rights violations, also alleges Crowley Police Chief K.P. Gibson might have had a vendetta against LeJeune and his wife because “they knew of certain personal indiscretions” of the chief.
Gibson wrote in an email that he did not know what "indiscretions" were being referenced.
"He hasn't addressed any-thing with me," Gibson said.
Police were responding to a report that someone in the backyard might have been screaming "help me," said Barry Sallinger, the couple's defense attorney in the criminal case.

Former police officers
to pay for damage to cars
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A Baton Rouge police officer, who resigned after crashing his police car into one of the LSU lakes while taking a woman on a late-night, off-duty ride, can expect a hefty bill.
Police say Byron S. Boudreaux, the former officer, will be charged for the totaled police unit and the equipment that was ruined when the car spun off East Lakeshore Drive and plunged into University Lake in September.
Boudreaux resigned in October amid an internal investigation into the crash.
The department hasn’t finished calculating the total cost of the bill that will be sent to Boudreaux,
Another former officer, Alec Pirie, who resigned in early December during an internal investigation, also was billed $120 recently for damage done to his cruiser before he quit.