Burglar Found Hiding in Bayou Houma, Louisiana
Louisiana police were out in force at 2 a.m. on July 9, attempting to track down a burglar suspect who had jumped into Bayou Terrebonne, the natural waterway that runs through the center of Houma (pop. 40,000), near New Orleans. Lt. Enos Thibodeaux had stopped to inspect a missing pane of glass in a window at Hebert Insurance, when suspect Kevin Wayne Dorsey ran from the building and jumped
into the bayou.
An estimated 20 to 25 officers from Louisiana State Police, Houma City Police and the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Department were out looking for Dorsey across a dark quarter-mile stretch of the bayou, when Coteau Chief Russell DiSalvo, Jr., arrived with a Bullard Thermal Imager.
Chief DiSalvo illustrated the capture. “I was on the other side of the 30 foot-wide bayou, scanning the area. I could see nutria [rats], and images of the officers searching,” he said. “Within five minutes, I saw a white glow in the bayou that quickly disappeared. The suspect had been down in the water and had come up for air.”
After DiSalvo directed officers to the suspect’s position, they illuminated the bayou and doused the area with pepper spray, incapacitating the suspect. Dorsey, who had taken off his clothes believing this would make him less visible, surrendered.
“It took less than five minutes,” Chief DiSalvo said. “We were elated. We could have been out there for an additional three to four hours. Without the thermal imager, our best option was to wait for daylight.”
Bullard TACSIGHT thermal imager for law enforcement is a highly effective tool for search and detection of fugitives, in nearly all environments.