Scott Police Announce Five People Arrested In Hit And Run & Drug Possession Cases

It was a busy weekend for Scott Police as officers made five arrests on the roadways - four men were arrested on Hit & Run charges and one woman was arrested on drug charges.

The first case actually began on Tuesday, April 8, when a green Chevrolet Blazer crashed into a ditch of a home on the 200 block of Cheyenne Drive, hitting a mailbox. Scott Police Chief Chad Leger says while deputies with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office were responding to the accident, another vehicle was removing the Blazer from the ditch. When officers arrived, Chief Leger says both vehicles left the scene. Officers searched the area and found the Blazer with a large amount of mud on the rear end, consistent with the traffic crash. The driver, identified as 18-year-old Michael Nugent of Scott, turned himself into Scott Police Friday, admitting he was the driver of the Blazer at the time of the crash. He sits in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on charges of Hit & Run Driving and Careless Operation.

In another hit and run case involving someone crashing into a homeowners property, 25-year-old Preston Moak of Scott has been arrested on numerous driving and drug charges after he allegedly crashed his vehicle into one homeowner's mailbox, leaving a large mess, then leaving and crashing his vehicle again in the 100 block of Debonnaire. Offficers say Moak's field sobriety test indicated thathe was impaired, but he told officers he could not remember what he had taken. Chief Leger says a passenger with Moak appeared to have struck the windshield and was sent to the hospital for his injuries. After Moak consented to a chemical blood test at the hospital, he was transported to the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center. Moak faces charges of Operating a Motor Vehicle while Intoxicated, Careless Operation, Vehicular Negligent Injury, Hit and Run and Possession of Schedule IV Narcotic (Xanax). This happened early Saturday morning.

Later Saturday night, Chief Leger says a Scott Police officer noticed a vehicle traveling south on Rue Du Belier at a very low speed. Police then pulled the vehicle over after they noticed it began to swerve and cross into the shoulder and then into the northbound lane. Once the officer approached the driver, Brooklyn Alfred of Lafayette, the officer noticed a strong odor of  marijuana coming from the vehicle. The officer says Alfred admitted that her and her passengers had just finished smoking marijuana and there might be a small quantity of marijuana still in the vehicle. After getting her permission, Chief Leger says the officer found a prescription bottle with no label that had 27 Lortab tablets inside, which Alfred said belonged to her girlfriend. Alfred was arrested and charged with Possession of Schedule III Narcotic (Lortab).

Early Sunday morning, 22-year-old Jose Gutierrez of Crowley is accused of causing a hit and run in Scott before eventually crashing a white Chevrolet Impala while allegedly trying to get away from Duson Police, who were trying to track him down. Chief Leger says officers were dispatched to the hit and run, which was in progress at Cameron Street and Alfred Street. The victim told officers the suspect vehicle was originally observed parked, blacked out at a nearby gas station. She told police as she passed the vehicle, the vehicle drove onto the roadway, still blacked out, and began ramming the rear end of her vehicle, from Cameron Street to Alfred Street, until her vehicle became disabled. The victim says she ran to a nearby bar, and when the two males inside the car got out and noticed the people at the bar, they changed their direction, with Gutierrez getting back inside the car, heading towards Duson. Chief Leger says one of the people at the bar began following Gutierrez, reporting the Impala's location to police. The Impala eventually flipped upside down into a ditch off Austria Road. Gutierrez was arrested and placed into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on charges of Reckless Operation, Hit and Run Driving and No Driver's License.

And later Sunday night, Lawrence Savoy of Lafayette got away from a Lafayette Parish Sheriff's deputy and a Scott Police officer after a witness reported him driving recklessly on Cameron Street. Chief Leger says the witness followed Savoy's vehicle to 1806 St. Mary Street, where Scott Police Officers were dispatched. The witness told police Savoy was driving on the shoulder and passing vehicles at extremely high speeds. The LPSO deputy was able to speak with the driver before Scott Police Officers arrived, but Savoy, who police say appeared to be intoxicated, quickly put the vehicle into reverse and backed out of the parking spot, not only disobeying the deputy's order to got out of the vehicle, but nearly hitting the officer with his vehicle. As the Scott Police Officer arrived, he positioned his vehicle so that Savoy couldn't leave. But Chief Leger says Savoy then went back into the parking lot of the service station and then over a curb and through a ditch to escape from the officers on scene. Savoy eventually got away after driving through a field and then onto another roadway to leave. On Monday, Chief Leger says Savoy called police and turned himself in. He sits in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center charged with two counts of Reckless Operation of a Motor Vehicle, Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Criminal Damage to Property, Hit and Run, two counts of Resisting an Officer and Aggravated Flight from an Officer.