The son of a New Orleans police officer was arrested Saturday night and booked with two counts of vehicular homicide, seven counts of vehicular injury, hit-and-run and reckless operation after his vehicle plowed into several bicyclists over a three-block area of Esplanade Avenue.
The crash occurred about 8 p.m., several blocks from the Krewe of Endymion parade.
The crash left two people dead, three in critical condition and four others injured. Police said they believe that 32-year-old Tashonty Toney was impaired at the time and were awaiting blood alcohol test results. Saturday was Toney's 32nd birthday.
A witness told The New Orleans Advocate that the driver of the car was "blind drunk."
Five of the people injured in the crash were taken to University Medical Center. A sixth injured person refused treatment and a seventh person was later encouraged to seek treatment by police out of an abundance of caution.
According to New Orleans EMS, the two deceased were a 30-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman.
Those taken to the University Medical Center trauma center include a 56-year-old man, two 28-year-old women, a 62-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman.
A statement issued by police early Sunday morning said of Toney's relationship to an NOPD officer: "This discovery does not change and will not impact our department’s investigation which will be open and transparent."
NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said that he was unsure if all of the victims were bicyclists, but that at least five to six of the victims were biking in a pack.
According to the NOPD, officers were alerted to a call of a vehicle crash shortly after 8 p.m. in the 2900 block of Esplanade and when they responded they realized there was a bigger scene.
Ferguson said that citizens also called to report a vehicle accident and thought they were rendering aid to the victim of a single-car crash, but soon it was apparent that he was the person responsible for the crash.