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February 19, 2014CRIMES
February 19, 2014
Editor’s Note: An earlier printing of this report misidentified the fault of the driver in the Houma incident. It has since been corrected to reflect information provided by the Louisiana State Police.
Five total people were killed on Tri-parish roadways this weekend in separate crashes.
On Saturday morning at 11:41 a.m., authorities learned that a crash involving a school bus and a SUV left four people dead and many others injured.
Authorities said that Ladonna Cheatham, 36, of Patterson, was driving a 2004 Kia Sorrento westward on U.S. Highway 90, while a Lafayette Parish school bus traveled eastward down the road.
Authorities with Louisiana State Police said the left rear tire on Cheatham’s vehicle failed, which caused the SUV to travel off the left side of the road, into the median and into the bus.
Cheatham was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Three passengers in the vehicle, 6-year-old Destiny Cheatham, 14-year-old Dwayne Escort and 16-year-old Marcus Cheatham were also unrestrained. All four passengers were ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead on the scene by the St. Mary Parish Coroner’s Office.
A fourth occupant in the vehicle, 17-year-old Mark Cheatham, was restrained and taken to a local hospital with moderate injuries.
The school bus’ driver was Amy Dore, 40, of Sunset. Authorities said she was wearing a seat belt during the crash and was not injured.
The bus was transporting 30 students and five adults to an event.
One of the adults, 23-year-old Cody Ortego, of Lafayette, sustained moderate injuries, and was taken to a local area hospital.
Seven students on the bus were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.
It is not yet known whether alcohol was a factor in the crash, but routine toxicology samples were obtained and submitted to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab for analysis.
A day after the bus crash, State Police were called to La. Highway 182 near Savanne Road in Houma.
During this crash, a 31-year-old motorcyclist was killed on La. Highway 182 after he was thrown from his bike when a vehicle failed to yield and turned into his path.
Authorities said the bike’s driver, Paul Bunopane, of Thibodaux, was killed. He was traveling east, near Savanne Road in Houma, when Ernest Delaune Jr., 40, of Raceland, failed to yield as he turned left onto Savanne Road.
Bunopane was unable to avoid Delaune’s 2009 Toyota Rav4, slamming into the vehicle’s side. He was thrown from the motorcycle.
Bunopane was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Terrebonne Parish Coroner’s Office.
Delaune was wearing a seat belt and was uninjured in the crash.
Authorities said alcohol is not suspected to be a factor in the crash. The incident remains under investigation.
A Cheatham-Escort benefit account has been set up at Whitney/Hancock bank in St. Mary Parish to help defray expenses for those killed in Saturday morning’s fatal crash.
