Background: News footage capturing the aftermath of the crash involving a Baton Rouge police officer (WAFB). Inset (left): Sgt. Caleb Eisworth (Baton Rouge Police Department). Inset (right): Gad Black (East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office).
A Louisiana man who allegedly ran over a police officer with his pickup truck reportedly bragged about it on Facebook.
Baton Rouge police detained 41-year-old Gad Black on Monday, accusing him of deliberately driving into a marked motorcycle operated by Sgt. Caleb Eisworth, whose age was unspecified. According to WAFB, a local CBS affiliate, Eisworth was heading home from work on Monday morning when Black, driving a pickup truck, allegedly struck him and dragged the officer 500 feet before leaving the scene.
Eisworth was critically injured and suffered from broken legs, a broken arm, and other injuries.
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Based on an arrest report from WAFB, authorities soon located Black after the incident. Black reportedly resisted arrest, prompting police to use a taser to detain him.
While in custody, police said that Black — who has a history of arrests related to offenses against law enforcement — allegedly admitted to following Eisworth while in his vehicle.
Before his arrest, Black seemingly bragged about the crash in two posts on a Facebook account with his name. One post published at 12:23 p.m. on Monday read, “Just Stretched One On Joor Rd,” a quote that included the location of the crash. Minutes earlier, at 12:16 p.m., Black apparently wrote, “Check Him Out On Joor Rd. Stretched One.”
Another post at the same account, published at 12:19 p.m., alluded to the case of Rodney Hinton, who allegedly intentionally ran over a sheriff’s deputy in Ohio after his teenage son was shot and killed by a police officer.
Black was charged with attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, hate crimes, and resisting an officer.
Also arrested was Black’s 40-year-old girlfriend, Asia Raby, who was charged with accessory after the fact in connection to Black’s attempted murder charge and obstruction of justice. According to WAFB’s reporting on Raby’s arrest, police said she was involved with a 911 call in which she provided a description of Black’s pickup truck and his location. While she reportedly stated that she needed no further assistance, she allegedly disconnected the call after being asked for her location and Black’s location.
Raby was arrested at her home, where police found Black’s vehicle.
A spokesperson from the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office told local ABC affiliate WBRZ on Tuesday that Eisworth was still in critical condition but showing signs of improvement.
