Mike Perlstein / Eyewitness News
Email: mperlstein@wwltv.com | Twitter: @mperlstein
NEWORLEANS- A veteran Orleans Levee Board Police commander has been booked with simple assault of his estranged wife, but is being allowed to remain on the job until the case goes to court.
Capt. Craig Boudreaux, a familiar face as a longtime spokesman for the levee police, is accused of threatening to kill his wife, then picking a lock when she tried to secure herself in a bedroom, according to a police report.
Boudreaux, 56, was booked at Jefferson Parish lockup last Thursday and released after posting $1,500 cash bond, according to court records. He is scheduled in court for a status hearing on July 12.
Boudreaux was back at work the day after his arrest. Acting Levee Board Police Chief Bob Garner said he 'found no impairment in his (Boudreaux's) ability to do his job, so he's back at to his normal duties.'
Garner added that Boudreaux's alleged offense is a misdemeanor that must be reviewed and accepted by the district attorney's office before it becomes a formal charge.
'We decided to return him to duty pending adjudication of his case,' Garner said.
Boudreaux's wife of 33 years called 911 just before midnight on May 28. She told Jefferson Parish deputies who responded to the couple's Metairie home that Boudreaux threatened her, forced her out of bed, then dared her to call the police.
The couple, going through divorce proceedings, apparently has had previous problems, according to Mrs. Boudreaux.
'Mrs. Boudreaux advised during the incident she was terrified, and advised she had been physically abused by Mr. Boudreaux in the past where he had choked her several times with one instance where she advised she lost consciousness,' the police report states. 'Mrs. Boudreaux further advised that none of these incidents were ever documented in a police report because she never called for police assistance.'
