Crash On I-10 Near Jennings Kills Texas Man

JENNINGS, LA – Friday

afternoon, at 3:20 p.m., troopers with Louisiana State Police Troop D responded to a single-vehicle rollover crash on Interstate 10 (milepost 64) near Jennings in Jefferson Davis Parish that killed a Texas man and injured two other people including a 3-year-old child.  

Preliminary investigation revealed the crash occurred when 24-year-old Courtney A. Fontenot of Missouri City, Texas, lost control of the 2008 Chrysler Sebring she was driving and began to rotate into the median while traveling west on Interstate 10.  After traveling into the median, the vehicle rolled over several times and came to rest on the eastbound inside lane of Interstate 10.  

Fontenot and another adult passenger, 24-year-old Marcel B. Durell of Port Arthur, Texas, were not restrained and were ejected from the vehicle.  Durell was taken by air ambulance to a Lake Charles hospital in critical condition and later died of his injuries.  Fontenot, and a 3-year-old child who was also ejected, were  transported by air ambulance to a Lake Charles hospital with moderate injuries.  The child was not properly restrained.

A routine toxicology sample was obtained from the driver and will be submitted to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab for analysis.  The investigation is continuing and charges are pending.

Troop D troopers have investigated 23 fatal crashes in 2010, resulting in 27 fatalities.