Officer Charged with Multiple Traffic Offenses

A New Orleans Police officer has been suspended without pay from the force after being charged with multiple traffic offenses, including hit and run.

The high speed chase was caught by the dashboard camera of a Crescent City Connection police cruiser.

It was almost 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 5, when two Crescent City police officers noticed a black pickup truck traveling east across the Crescent City Connection.

The officers reported that the truck was going in excess of 90 mph in a 50-mph-zone and switched lanes erratically.

The driver of the truck was identified as New Orleans police officer Donyell Sanchell, a four-year veteran of the department.

The police report states that despite having their lights and siren on the pickup truck didn’t pull over and continued east until taking the Vieux Carre exit and coming to a stop at the bottom of the exit.

The report states Officer Sanchell was irate and he said that was not going to stop because he was late for work, and, as the Crescent City officers were questioning Sanchell, he sped off hitting CCC Officer Jeremy Wright in the left forearm with his truck.

The officers began pursuit again and it ended a short distance later when the pickup truck pulled into First District headquarters on North Rampart Street.

The report states that Officer Sanchell got out of the truck and hit Officer Wright in the face with an open hand and went inside – that was not captured by the cruiser’s dashboard camera because of other vehicles in between.

Officer Sanchell was not arrested and was given a municipal summons for two counts of battery and traffic citations for hit and run and careless operation.