Caddo Parish Deputy killed in crash on I-49 identified
LSP: Distracted driving suspected to be a factor
Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office
Posted at 4:07 PM, Jul 23, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-23 21:36:25-04
A Caddo Parish Sheriff's Deputy was killed Friday morning by what State Police suspect to be a distracted driver after responding to a crash on I-49 north of Shreveport.
The Sheriff's Office identified the deputy as 82-year-old Auxiliary Deputy Lonnie Thacker of Keithville. State Police say Thacker was sitting in a parked, fully marked CPSO patrol unit that was positioned in the right lane for traffic control, with its emergency lights on, at the location of a previous two-vehicle crash that caused a lane closure. A second driver was traveling on I-49 northbound and approached the lane closure. The driver failed to observe the marked unit, which was blocking the lane, and struck the rear of the CPSO vehicle, causing both cars to exit the roadway.