Christopher Townsend, 32, of Covington was arrested on several charges.
An off-duty reserve St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s deputy fired his gun at a vehicle whose driver tried to run him over Wednesday afternoon following a hit-and-run crash, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
No one was reported injured in the collision or gunfire, the Sheriff’s Office said Thursday (Feb. 22).
In a news release, the Sheriff’s Office said Christopher Townsend, 32, of Covington, was arrested and has been booked with hit and run, aggravated assault with a vehicle on a police officer, DWI, and no driver’s license.
The incident was one of two in St. Tammany Parish Wednesday in which a law enforcement officer fired a weapon at a vehicle coming toward him. The Slidell Police Department said an officer fired at a U-Haul truck whose driver tried to run the officer down. That driver was arrested; the U-Haul was stolen, police said.
The Sheriff’s Office said the reserve deputy, who it did not identify, was in his personal pickup truck at the intersection of U. S. 190 and Penn Mill Road near Covington around 2:30 p.m. when a westbound Pontiac G6 heading westbound on U. S. 190 crashed into the deputy’s truck.
The driver of that vehicle, later identified as Townsend, continued driving west on U. S. 190 after the crash. The deputy followed and called 911 to request marked patrol units, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Townsend, who the Sheriff’s Office said was driving erratically, turned northbound onto Louisiana 1077 and then turned into a subdivision, where he made a U-turn.
The Sheriff’s Office said the reserve deputy got out of his truck, identified himself as a deputy and ordered Townsend to stop. The Sheriff’s Office said Townsend accelerated in the deputy’s direction and the deputy, fearing for his safety, « discharged his off-duty weapon at the suspect in an attempt to prevent him from hitting the deputy with the vehicle. »
The news release did not say how many shots were fired.
The deputy avoided being hit and Townsend continued southbound on Louisiana 1077, where marked units that arrived on the scene apprehended him after the vehicle was disabled due to damage from the earlier hit and run, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office said Townsend failed a field sobriety test on the scene. He refused to submit to a breathalyzer. Blood drawn from him will be submitted to the crime lab for analysis.
Townsend was booked into the St. Tammany Parish jail. The Sheriff’s Office said he has a criminal record out of Texas, including arrests for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, theft, DWI and drug charges.
