NEW ORLEANS — A Houston couple wants to know why New Orleans Police did not stop suspects after they stole their car. Those suspects were accused of a brazen daylight shooting in downtown New Orleans — using that stolen truck.
Police had apparently been tracking the car the whole time with a GPS device.
Minnie Washington and her husband Stephen traveled to New Orleans from Texas last week for a quick getaway. The couple was staying at Harrah's Hotel, but what was supposed to be a relaxing trip turned into a nightmare. Washington says the hotel's valet staff told them to leave their truck running, and then it was stolen.
"He said just leave the keys. Just leave the keys. It'll be okay. We're all here. So my husband said no, I'm gonna let my wife go check-in, and I'm gonna stay out here with the truck. My husband walked around the back of the truck to the passenger side to get the luggage out. The valet attendant was helping him," Washington told WWL Louisiana. "We got two luggage out before somebody ran. We don't even know where they came from. Out of nowhere.... jumped into the front seat of the car and cranked it up truck, and hit the gas took off with the back door open, still open. We had only been there for three minutes at that time."
Their truck was then used in a drive-by shooting in the CBD that injured two people. Court documents show Bryceson Jones was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder, along with several other charges. The 20-year-old's bond was set at over $1 million.
According to an NOPD preliminary police report, investigators watched Jones and several others for their alleged involvement in other car thefts. The report says detectives placed a GPS tracker on Washington's truck when "a safe opportunity presented itself."
The report also says after the shooting, the suspects torched the truck.
Washington is asking why NOPD didn't intercept sooner and possibly prevent a shooting.
"So, to me, you used our truck as bait. If you found it, you were supposed to call us and give us our truck back. So I feel that this was 100% preventable," Washington said.
Retired NOPD Assistant Chief Marlon Defillo says officers can't predict what will happen. While not involved with the investigation, he believes, in this situation investigators thought they were working a property crime case.
"There is certain criteria an officer has to meet to engage in a pursuit. Pursuing a vehicle that is solely wanted in a property crime is at the bottom of the pole." Defillo said. "History has taught us that individuals in stolen vehicles tend to run, tend to flee. At that time, officers made a decision it would do more harm than good and put the public in danger if they had stopped a stolen vehicle."
Minnie Washington spoke on Zoom with WWL Louisiana reporter Eleanor Tabone from her hospital bed. She says that on Sunday night, she started experiencing chest pains. A nurse for 32 years, she says the cause is stress and says her husband is suffering too.
"My husband is retired military. Fall in four wars, PTSD. Now he's not sleeping. He's hearing gunshots is waking him up," Washington said.
In a statement, NOPD said, "Public safety, including the safety of our residents and visitors, is the NOPD’s top priority. Deployment of officers in police operations is handled utilizing tools such as analytics and other investigative measures."
Washington said it took NOPD 15 hours to respond to their initial report of the truck theft. She says she and her husband are taking legal action against NOPD and Harrah's Hotel. We have reached out to the hotel and are waiting to hear back.
In response, NOPD said:
"The incident was reported on January 15 at about 5:05 p.m. As the incident was a reported auto theft, and as the suspect was determined to not be located on scene and as the victim was determined not to be in imminent danger, the incident was given a priority of Code 1 (routine, safe driving response to calls without the use of emergency lights or siren while obeying all traffic laws) and placed into the calls for service queue for the next available Eighth District officer. The next available Eighth District officer for dispatch to a Code 1 call became available on Jan. 16, 2024, at about 9:30 a.m. The officer was dispatched and met with the victim at that time to take the police report."
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