A Shreveport man was arrested in Ruston Tuesday evening after leading state police on an extended chase before crashing the stolen vehicle he was driving.
Calvin L. Giounes, 28, was arrested and charged with numerous offenses after he was found in a Ruston church after fleeing the crashed car.
A state trooper assigned to Troop G of the Louisiana State Police clocked the vehicle traveling at 111 miles per hour on Interstate 20 west of Arcadia at about 9 p.m. The driver refused to stop and continued eastbound at a high rate of speed.
The Hyundai Elantra entered the construction zone between Arcadia and Grambling where it struck another passenger car but continued east into Ruston.
The trooper’s report described the Hyundai exiting I-20 in Ruston but then reentering the Interstate going east in the westbound lane, nearing crashing into other vehicles.
The vehicle exited the Interstate after the chase was terminated due to the hazard of traveling in the wrong direction.
The pursuit ended when the suspect wrecked his vehicle, disabling it in the 700 block of Woodward Avenue (North Service Road) where it was found by Ruston Police.
A perimeter was quickly established around the abandoned car with Louisiana State Police, the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Ruston Police officers. Lincoln Parish K-9 Thor was deployed to aid in the search.
Shortly after, the Ruston Police Department received an alarm call from Trinity Methodist Church near the crash site. Officers responded after viewing surveillance footage which provided a description of the suspect.
While investigating at the church, officers discovered Giounes in the lobby who matched the description of the man leaving the crashed vehicle. Giounes was taken into custody and turned over to the Louisiana State Police so they could continue their investigation.
State Police took Giounes at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center to be booked. Giounes attempted to escape from the facility by breaking free from a detention center deputy and fleeing on foot. He was apprehended by the deputy.
Giounes was booked for aggravated flight from an officer, hit and run driving, illegal possession of stolen things (the Hyundai), criminal trespass (at the church), and attempted simple escape.
In a Ruston Police press release, the agency said it was “proud to have worked alongside its law enforcement partners in bringing this dangerous situation to a safe resolution.”
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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