UPDATE — After less than four hours on the run, all but one of the escapees had been captured. The final escapee was located around 6:00 p.m. when Troopers with the Louisiana State Police attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a stolen vehicle.
The driver of the stolen vehicle fled the scene and led Troopers on a chase from Old Gentilly Road to the 7th Ward. Police say the chase came to an end when the suspects crashed the stolen vehicle near the intersection of N. Rocheblave Street and St. Bernard Avenue.
Once in custody, Troopers learned that one of the occupants of the stolen vehicle was an escapee from BCCY.
BRIDGE CITY, La. (WGNO) – Five juveniles are back in custody and one is still on the run after breaking out of the Bridge City Center for Youth early Sunday morning. The Office of Juvenile Justice says they escaped at about 2:30 a.m. from the River Road facility.
Soon after the breakout, all movement in the facility ceased and a call went out to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to aid in the search.
By 6:00 a.m., five of the escapees were back in custody. As of 11:20, one juvenile, a 17-year-old male from Orleans Parish, is said to still be on the run. He has officially been entered into the National Crime Information Center database, and a command center was set up at the Center for Youth to help track and re-arrest the juvenile.
“They got the gate there. They got lights up. They got screens up, and the police presence is always being shown here, but yet still, I have no idea how they’re escaping. I don’t know if it’s lacking on the faculty there, or it’s just bad kids,” said James Cleveland, lives near Bridge City Center for Youth.
Since the escapee is underage, information such as his name and identification cannot be released to the public but law officials are aware of the person’s description.
“Why are these kids all of a sudden trying to get away from this facility? Why is it that Jefferson Parish could maintain the jailhouse but they can’t maintain this juvenile facility? Those are the questions that need to be asked,” Darren Sorrels, lives near Bridge City Center for Youth
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Anyone with information is asked to call local law enforcement immediately, or the Command
Center at 504-401-3359.