SLIDELL, La. -- A trip to the gas station turned into terror Wednesday when a Slidell man and his son saw a U-Haul truck pulled up with a Slidell Police Officer in tow.
“The cop pulled in front, got out and told the driver to get out, but the driver wouldn’t,” the witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
However, the female passenger did get out and started to get too close to the officer.
That’s when “the U-Haul took off, then went all the way down to where the Walmart’s at, spun and came back,” the witness said. “It’s like the U-Haul was going after the officer.”
The whole incident was caught on video. The man shooting the video, a former military member, says the whole encounter left his heart pounding.
“(The officer) gave the suspect plenty of time, plenty of warning to get out, he told the lady back away and all that and I thought he did the job,” he said. “Because if I was in that situation, seeing a U-Haul coming for me and putting my life in danger, I would have shot too.”
According to police, the shots hit the vehicle’s windshield, but narrowly missed the driver, identified as Ricky Cooper, a New Orleans resident. Cooper fled the scene, but was captured shortly after, according to police.
Cooper was treated for cuts form the shattered glass, but no other injuries were reported in the incident.
However, police say there was damage done to the community.
“It’s happening more and more frequently across the country. Officers go to work every day not knowing what's going to happen to them,” Chief Randy Fandal said. “It's aggravating, but they're well trained, they're ready for this to occur and we're fortunate yesterday nobody got hurt.”