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Mellissa Belanger has been charged with attempted first degree murder of a police officer
Mellissa Belanger has been charged with attempted first-degree murder of a police officer

KENNER, La. (WGNO) – A New Orleans woman was shot by a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s deputy Friday morning after she attempted to hit the deputy with a truck following a high-speed chase through Metairie and Kenner.

According to the sheriff’s office, the deputy spotted a silver Toyota Tundra, suspected in some car burglaries in the parish, in the 6000 block of West Esplanade Avenue about 3:30 a.m. Friday. When the deputy attempted to stop the truck it took off.

The chase ended at a dead end on West Esplanade at Tulane Avenue in Kenner.

That’s when the driver of the truck rammed the police cruiser on the front passenger side, according to JPSO. The deputy then left his vehicle, but authorities say the driver of the truck then attempted to hit him.

The deputy fired three shots hitting the driver in both wrists. The sheriff’s office says the driver of the truck continued to drive for about two blocks before she stopped and surrendered.

The truck driver has been identified as 40-year-old Melissa Belanger. She was taken to University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

She will be charged with attempted murder of a police officer; once she is released.