NEW ORLEANS – Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Rouse has released the name of the third victim of Wednesday’s fatal car chase that began in the CBD and ended in New Orleans East.
Twenty-one-year-old Kenneth Davis was driving the car, and led the Louisiana State Police on an extended chase.
State Police spokesperson Melissa Matey said a trooper was stopped at a traffic light at Canal and Rampart streets when he ran the license plate of the vehicle in front of him, and it came back stolen.
Another trooper arrived at the scene and tried to box the vehicle in, but Davis backed up and went around the troopers.
State Police followed the vehicle onto I-10, where Davis eventually exited on Chef Menteur Highway.
Twenty-five-year-old Brandon Harold, a passenger in the car, died from multiple blunt force injuries he sustained when Davis struck a truck on Chef Menteur Highway and slammed into the front office of a trailer park.
Davis’ daughter, two-year-old Ivory Washington, also suffered fatal blunt force injuries in the crash, according to the coroner.
Both Harold and Washington were ejected from the vehicle during the crash.
Matey said there was a car seat in the vehicle for Washington, but it was set up as a booster seat.
Davis survived the crash with “minor contusions and abrasions,” but shot himself in the head shortly after, according to Dr. Rouse.
Matey said the pursuit and subsequent crash are still under investigation. She declined to discuss State Police’s policy on police pursuits, but she noted that troopers “did everything they could to prevent a pursuit.”
She said the windows in the vehicle were tinted, and troopers could not see how many people were in the vehicle.
“It’s tragic that a child was involved,” Matey said. “We’re hurt by it also. Our hearts go out to the family.”