By: Ken Daley and Maddie Kerth | fox8live.com | July 10, 2024
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – A wanted man who allegedly drove against oncoming traffic on Interstate 10 while being pursued by state troopers was ordered held without bond on Wednesday (July 10).
The wild chase Monday night in New Orleans East was initiated by Troop NOLA, and resulted in the arrest of 27-year-old Eric Banks Jr. on multiple counts. Banks was booked with aggravated flight from an officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, hit-and-run driving and several other traffic and narcotics counts.
Banks is being prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s office, which is handling Orleans Parish cases initiated by Troop NOLA. Prosecutor Alex Calenda had barely started his request for a high bond, citing the recklessness of Banks’ alleged escape attempt and the danger it had posed to other drivers, when Orleans Parish Magistrate Judge Juana Lombard interrupted. Unless the state disagreed with no bond, Lombard said, she didn’t need to hear any more.
“He clearly has no intention of succumbing to or following the laws of this state,” Lombard said. “He is the definition of a flight risk.”
Vice President of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, Michelle Foster, says Banks’ criminal past was factored into the decision.
The Attorney General’s Office didn’t even really have to make an argument,” Foster said. “The record and the offender’s history, the disregard for public safety, she didn’t have confidence that he was going to potentially show up to court now.”
According to court documents, Louisiana State Police troopers assigned to Troop NOLA tried to stop a black Dodge Charger with illegal window tinting and a fictitious temporary license tag when they spotted the vehicle Monday at 7:17 p.m. in the parking lot of the Willowbrook Apartments at 6900 Bundy Road.
Troopers said the car accelerated and fled on Bundy Road, blowing through several stop signs at speeds “in excess of 80 mph” through residential neighborhoods.
“The pursuit continued onto Interstate 10 eastbound, at which point the suspect vehicle made a U-turn, struck a vehicle and began traveling against the flow of traffic on the interstate heading toward the entrance ramp of Interstate 10,” troopers wrote in a sworn affidavit.
Troopers said they and other motorists had to take evasive action to avoid being struck by the fleeing vehicle, which they said appeared to lose control while driving into oncoming traffic on the interstate and into a grassy area alongside the freeway. The car eventually got off the interstate and onto Dwyer Road, but lost a tire and eventually spun out at the intersection with Francis Drive, where it was surrounded by troopers.
Troopers said they arrested Banks, and found he had several open warrants for his arrest for earlier accusations of aggravated battery, resisting arrest and tampering with Vehicle Identification Numbers. They said Banks had plastic bags in the car containing marijuana, cocaine and prescription opioid pills. The LSP said it also determined the Charger was a stolen vehicle that had been “rebranded” with a fictitious VIN.
Monday’s incident allegedly is the second time in six weeks that Banks fled from authorities at high speed.
Court documents show that New Orleans police encountered Banks on May 30, in response to a domestic violence complaint.
A woman who was accusing Banks of pistol-whipping her outside a house in the 8500 block of Bill Street in the Little Woods neighborhood told NOPD officers that Banks had parked a stolen white Jeep in a driveway next door.
Officers determined that vehicle had a false Alabama license plate and that the VIN had been removed. An NOPD detective parked behind the vehicle to pin it in the driveway, but officers said Banks ignored instructions to stay away from the Jeep. Instead, they said, Banks got in and gunned the vehicle across a neighbor’s lawn to escape “at a high rate of speed in a reckless manner.”
The NOPD did not pursue Banks in the May 30 incident, but obtained a warrant for his arrest.