teens-beat-up-guard,-1-escapes-facility

Teens beat up guard, 1 escapes facility

Lifestyle

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Authorities are searching for a 19-year-old New Orleans man who injured a staff member during an escape Sunday (April 10) from the Bridge City Center for Youth detention facility.

The escape occurred at approximately 3 a.m., according to Deron Patin of the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice. The escapee was identified only as teen from Orleans Parish, even though his age qualifies him as an adult and state law allows for the release of names and photographs of anyone who escapes a youth detention center.

The OJJ has not said why the escapee’s identity has been withheld from the public.

According to the OJJ, the Bridge City facility was locked down following the escape and officials with the Louisiana State Police and Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office were notified. The OJJ said the detention center campus was declared secure, but said “one staff was injured as a result of the incident, and is currently receiving medical treatment.”

Senator Patrick Connick says the 19-year-old influenced three other juveniles to jump a female guard in a bathroom. The woman suffered a concussion, broken, and missing teeth. The teens then took her keys, and locked her in the bathroom. Connicks says the three younger juveniles helped the 19-year-old up and over the fence.

Anyone with information on the escapee is asked to contact local law enforcement agencies or the search command center at (504) 274-6807.

Sunday’s escapee is at least the ninth from the troubled Bridge City facility in the past five months.

The escape comes less than a month after five incarcerated youth escaped the Bridge City facility on March 17, an incident the detention center attributed in part to “human error.”

Three other youth detainees escaped the Bridge City facility last November.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Copyright 2022 WVUE. All rights reserved.