METAIRIE, La. — The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office says on Wednesday a jury found Tonny J. Bauer, 37, guilty of carjacking and forcibly removing a 58-year-old woman from her vehicle moments after she bought pizzas.
According to the D.A.’s office, it happened May 8, 2020, outside a pizza business in the 5000 block of West Esplanade Avenue.
Prosecutors say the woman told the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office that she walked out of the business with her pizzas and noticed Bauer crouching down nearby.
She entered her 2021 Nissan Rogue and placed the pizzas on the passenger’s seat. That’s when Bauer got in her SUV through the passenger side and choked her as she tried to flee. She managed to escape, and Bauer drove away in her vehicle.
About a half-hour later, Causeway police responded to a one-vehicle wreck near the southbound lanes of the Causeway bridge. Police determined it was the woman’s stolen vehicle. When they arrived on the scene, Bauer attempted to climb the bridge’s railing to continue his escape but was quickly apprehended by officers.
Police say they also found the victim’s pizza inside the car still hot and partially eaten.
Prosecutors say Bauer alleged self-defense in his case, saying he was at his home near the pizza business when he thought someone was breaking into the house.
Bauer told prosecutors that he ran to the pizza business and got into the victim’s car thinking she could help him.
Jurors deliberated less than an hour and a half before returning with their unanimous guilty verdict. Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Bauer on March 22.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
