By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Deputies in St. John Parish arrested a Reserve man in possession of a stolen car and under the influence of various drugs after a vehicle pursuit that crossed two parishes and endangered the lives of police officers in St. John and St. Charles Parishes, said a spokesman for the St. John Sheriff’s Office.

Maj. Mike Tregre, public information officer for the St. John Sheriff’s Office, said Charles Baham Jr., 18, 341 Chad B. Baker St., Reserve, was taken into custody around 9:20 a.m. Saturday in an area of thick brush between I-55 and US Hwy 51 near Ruddock. Trege said Baham jumped into Lake Pontchartrain and swam toward the woods in an attempt to escape capture after St. John deputies laid a spike strip across I-55 to stop his vehicle.

According to a report from the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office, about an hour before Baham’s arrest, deputies in Norco pulled him over for speeding. Baham was traveling east on Airline Highway near Prospect Avenue in a vehicle that had been reported stolen in St. John.

While officers were obtaining information on the driver, Baham shifted his car in gear, stepped on the gas and spun the vehicle around to try and escape the scene. In the process, Baham struck the driver’s side door of one of the police units on the scene. Baham refused to exit his vehicle after several verbal commands from police and proceeded to head west on Airline Highway at a high rate of speed toward LaPlace.

Once in St. John, Tregre said Bayham turned north onto Hwy. 51 and merged onto I-55 before crashing into a St. John patrol car. Tregre said the wreck caused serious damage to the cruiser, but the officer was not injured.

Baham traveled several miles on I-55 before his vehicle was disabled by a spike strip that was laid down near the Ruddock exit. Deputies from St. John, St. Charles and Tangipahoa parishes pursued Baham in the wooded area with the help of a police K-9 unit. He was captured after a brief search of the area. Tregre said Baham admitted to deputies that he was under the influence of crack cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy and officers on the scene found a small amount of marijuana on the front seat of the stolen vehicle.

Tregre said Baham was taken to River Parishes Hospital for treatment before being booked into the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace on charges of attempted murder of a police officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, felony injury of a police officer, aggravated flight from a police officer, reckless operation and hit and run. He is being detained at the jail on $149,000 bond. Baham also faces similar charges in St. Charles upon release from St. John.