Early Sunday morning, just past midnight on May 29, 2022, Baton Rouge Police’s helicopter was proactively patrolling when they found people drag racing & arrested three people.
One was as BRPD’s Aviation Unit was flying on S. Choctaw Dr. That’s when officers saw a blue 1999 Ford Mustang drag racing and performing burn outs in the roadway.
Officers said the 13,000 block of Choctaw was completely blocked by pedestrians and other vehicles also participating in the drag racing and burnouts. In the case of 18-yr-old Troy Perret, BRPD said it looks like Perret and others were racing to determine whose vehicle was fastest and who could perform a burnout quickest.
Police said in their arresting documents that Perret’s actions “were so reckless that it may have seriously injured several pedestrians if he were to lose control of the vehicles.” The officer went on to say Perret put himself and others in danger.
Perret was arrested and charged with aggravated obstruction of a highway of commence, drag racing on a public road, license plate required and DL not on person.
Along with Perret, Jason Cager, 24, of Baton Rouge, was also arrested for drag racing and several other charges. Cager is accused of drag racing on May 28th around 11:45pm in the 1600 block of N. Airway Dr. in an orange Chevrolet Camaro. Cager was allegedly doing donuts in the middle of an intersection at N. Airway & Tom drives.
The same goes for Cager that while he was performing donuts, many people were looking on and blocking the roadway.
When police tried to stop Cager & other vehicles, officers said several sports cars took off in an attempt to flee from police. The only officer able to keep up with them was a BRPD helicopter because the drivers were driving so fast to race each other with Cager allegedly disobeying all traffic lights and posted speeds.
Cager was eventually caught and arrested. He’s charged with aggravated obstruction of a highway of commence, flight from an officer, obstruction of justice, reckless operation of a vehicle, drag racing on a public road & a bench warrant.
The third arrest goes back to the drag racing on College Dr. on April 30, 2022 when several of the drag races & burnouts were posted to social media. Those videos were turned over to police. In the videos, police said 30-yr-old Clifford Hall was seen driving a gray 2021 Dodge Charger & performing donuts & burnouts on College, just before I-10.
The scene was caught on several videos with hundreds of pedestrians watching, blocking the roadway completely to traffic for at least 30 minutes.
Officers spotted the same vehicle on May 29, 2022 and knew it to be involved in multiple road closures for drag racing. Officers conducted a traffic stop on Hall and arrested him. Police did say they found a stolen gun in his vehicle.
Hall is charged with aggravated obstruction of a highway of commence, illegal possession of stolen firearms, drag racing on a public road & two bench warrants.
Glad to see BRPD taking action on these activities that are embarrassing to Baton Rouge. Keep it up!