Shreveport Police Dept.

Date: November 16, 2006

Phone: 318/673-6932 Fax: 318/673-6933

Contact: Kacee Hargrave, Public Information Officer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fatal Wreck on Jewella

Shreveport Police are investigating a fatal wreck caused by a man driving a Chevy Blazer who was allegedly running away from a crime scene.

Tony Mitchell, 32, of Shreveport was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred on Jewella Avenue at Millard Street. In his vehicle were his fiancée’s two children, a 13-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. The boy sustained critical head trauma and is currently in critical condition at LSU Hospital. The girl was taken to LSU where she was treated and released. 

Mitchell was driving at a high rate of speed on Millard after he reportedly had committed a theft. According to witnesses, Mitchell ran a stop sign and struck a SporTran bus driven by Nathaniel Jackson, 38, of Shreveport. Jackson was taken to Willis-Knighton South in stable condition, while the one passenger on the bus, 50-year-old Larry Owens of Shreveport was not injured.

When the Blazer struck the southbound bus, the bus rotated across the median in the northbound lanes of travel where it hit two cars -- a Honda Accord driven by Vickie Woodward, 45, of Shreveport and a Ford Crown Victoria driven by Herman Becknell, 56, of Shreveport. The driver of the Accord sustained moderate injuries and was taken to Willis-Knighton South. Meanwhile, Becknell's Crown Victoria was trapped under the bus. When he was finally freed, paramedics transported him to LSU Hospital where he is currently in serious condition.

-spd-

View all SPD press releases at www.ci.shreveport.la.us/dept/police/spdnews