Louisiana State Police arrested a 60-year-old man for negligent homicide. Investigators say he was distracted by his phone and crashed, killing one man and injuring another person in a February crash on I-10 in Metairie.
Trooper Kate Stegall said it happened February 27 at the Clearview Parkway exit on I-10 in Metairie. She said 49-year-old Chad James of Thibodaux and another individual were outside their cars, discussing a crash between their vehicles when Manuel Llorens approached.
“The driver of the vehicle that struck the parked vehicles Mr. Manual Llorens was distracted by his cellphone when the crash occurred,” said Stegall. James was killed in the wreck.
Stegall said they are seeing more and more drivers distracted by their cellphones and causing serious crashes. She said it takes an average of four and a half seconds to read and respond to a message on your phone.
“At 55 miles an hour, it takes five seconds to drive the length of a football field, so when we’re taking that 4.5 seconds to just look at a simple alert on your phone, you’re basically driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed,” said Stegall.
Stegall implores drivers to place their phone where it is inaccessible or silence the phone when driving so they aren’t tempted to respond. She said even eating while driving can be distracting.
“All of our concentration has to be on driving so that we can do it safely and make sure that we aren’t putting ourselves at risk or anyone else in the community or any other drivers on the roadway,” said Stegall.
