NEW ORLEANS — The former director of the Orleans Parish Communications District has been indicted by a grand jury on multiple charges stemming from a May 2023 traffic accident in a city-owned vehicle.
The grand jury indicted Tyrell Morris on charges of malfeasance in office, false personation of a peace officer, insurance fraud and second-degree public records injuring.
Morris was booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center shortly after 8 a.m. on Friday.
Later that afternoon, the court ordered bond set for $2,500 per count, totaling $10K.
The court also ordered for Morris to surrender his passport upon his release, which was before 3 p.m. when he was allowed out a back door.
Defense counsel Brian Capitelli appeared without Morris for unscheduled judicial activity before his release, while André Gaudin appeared on behalf the state.
No new court dates have been set at this time.
In May 2023, the indictment alleges that Morris used the city-owned vehicle to impersonate a peace officer and failed to follow standard procedures of submitting to a drug and alcohol test following the accident.
The recently turned 38-year-old is also charged with knowingly submitting a vehicle damage statement with false statements.
The indictment also charges Morris with failing to keep public records and with altering the vehicle policy for his district. In addition, he faces charges for intentionally filing an insurance claim with false information; and with firing a whistleblower who reported the events.
Morris stated in a police report that he was in the far-right lane and the other driver came from behind him, went around him to the right and clipped his bumper. But there’s no shoulder on the road there and a tree would make such a maneuver impossible, the report found.
As WWL reported in June 2023, the video of the accident clearly showed the other driver was waiting at a stop light in the right lane and Morris was waiting in the center lane, then drove into the other car when the light turned green.
A report by the city’s inspector general in 2023 backed up WWL’s findings that Morris appears to have lied in his report to the insurance company, which the IG says may constitute insurance fraud.
WWL also broke the story in June 2023 that computer metadata showed Morris altered an OPCD policy document four days after the accident, to change it so the policy no longer required a drug and alcohol screening of every OPCD employee after an accident. The document was altered so it looked like it was still from 2019, but only required drug tests if an accident resulted in injuries. The IG’s report Thursday confirmed that and stated it may be a violation of a state law against injuring public records.
Morris' lawyer released the following statement:
"Tyrrell Morris significantly improved the 911 Call Center during his tenure there. This case is retaliation by the OIG. It was shocking to learn of these charges from the media without myself or Mr. Morris being afforded the opportunity to present any evidence to the grand jury. We look forward to fighting these false allegations in court."
We’ve also contacted Mayor Cantrell's office for comment and have not yet heard back. Cantrell did publicly support Morris when these allegations were first reported.
OPCD also declined to comment.
Morris' arraignment date is set for Jun 26.