[StBernard] Intelligence in Metro New Orleans

[Westley Annis]

-------- Suspect's wallet left at scene of crime ---------   

SLIDELL, La. - An accused burglar was arrested after   
his wallet was found inside a Louisiana drug store   
where a car earlier had plowed through the wall.   
Slidell police picked up a side mirror from the debris-   
covered floor that matched the one missing from Ralph   
Lindfors' pickup truck, a report said. Police told The   
New Orleans Times-Picayune that Lindfors allegedly stole   
more than 450 hydrocodone pills. Hydrocodone is a   
narcotic painkiller. A surveillance video showed the   
truck crashing into the store Monday night. The driver   
then opened a lock cabinet, scooped up the pills and   
backed out of the store, the report said.   

--------- Snake may have caused motorcycle crash ----------   

NEW ORLEANS - A New Orleans motorcyclist was seriously   
injured in a crash that apparently occurred when he became   
distracted by a rattlesnake he was transporting.   
Investigators say the dead snake was tied to the back of   
the bike and may have been slipping off. The biker struck   
a curb and became airborne, landing in the street, The New   
Orleans Times-Picayune reported. Matt Rutan, a truck driver   
who was the only witness to the crash Wednesday afternoon,   
said that as the cyclist passed him he observed what   
appeared to be a piece of rope dragging behind. The rope   
later turned out to be a 5-foot canebrake rattlesnake with   
its fangs and rattles removed. Rutan said that he saw the   
motorcyclist "lift up a little and twist around in his seat   
like he was attending to something on the back of his bike."   
Police said that the cyclist was hospitalized in "very   
critical condition." "It was one of the strangest accidents   
I've responded to in my 37 years on the New Orleans Police   
Department," said Lt. Melvin Howard, assistant commander of   
the Traffic Division.