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Man led officers on hours-long chase throughout Baton Rouge

2 years 10 months 2 weeks ago Wednesday, May 12 2021 May 12, 2021 May 12, 2021 9:21 AM May 12, 2021 in Crime
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - A suspect led police and sheriff's deputies on a pursuit that wound through downtown Baton Rouge, LSU's campus and into North Baton Rouge late Wednesday morning.

The chase unfolded around 9 a.m. after the suspect tried to set a fire in the parking lot of a Shell gas station on Jefferson Highway near Lobdell Avenue, according to police. Video showed the suspect also led police onto I-110 and through parts of the LSU campus.

Nearly two hours later, the chase ended on a dead-end street in Old South Baton Rouge. That's where police say the suspect refused to get out the pickup.

"Throughout this pursuit all the speeds were low speed for the most part. This individual obeyed most of the traffic laws, some of them were violated. He ended up here on Burns Drive," Sgt. Don Coppola said.

The suspect, identified by police as 50-year-old Derrick Lathan, was taken into custody shortly after 11 a.m. at a house along Thomas H. Delpit Drive near Burns Drive. 

Members of the Baton Rouge Police Department and the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office were called in to assist the pursuit.

"Because it was widespread throughout the city, his actions dictated our actions. We just wanted to make sure that everyone remained safe. People were aware, but at no point in time did we feel anyone's safety had been jeopardized,"  Coppola said.

Lathan is charged with resisting arrest, aggravated flight, and simple damage to property.

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