AMY SZPARA

LAPLACE – A 25-year-old LaPlace man was arrested for vehicular homicide early Friday morning after allegedly striking a Metairie man outside of Airline Motors Restaurant in LaPlace and dragging his body for several feet before stopping to enter another nearby bar. Arnold Dean Keirsey Jr., of 153 Betty Ave., was booked with DWI, reckless operation of a vehicle, vehicular homicide and hit-and-run driving resulting in death, after he hit Richard Wehrstedt, 54, of Metairie in the restaurant’s parking lot, authorities said. Wehrstedt, who had just finished working at the restaurant as a disc jockey, was about to leave, when Keirsey pulled into the lot. After hitting Wehrstedt, Keirsey did not stop his vehicle, but instead drove to another bar, police investigators said. According to Airline Motors Restaurant owner Richard Alford, he had known Wehrstedt for the year and a half that he had been a DJ at the restaurant. He worked there once a week during that time, said Alford. Bernadette Arcana of LaPlace, who waitresses at Airline Motors, was not at the restaurant Friday morning when the accident happened, but was terribly shocked when she came in and found out about what had happened to her good friend the next morning. “He was a very good friend of mine,” said Arcana. “We’re still kind of shell-shocked right now. I was shocked, not only that it happened, but how it happened.” Arcana said she was a karaoke friend of Wehrstedt’s, though she knew him as Rick Allen, which was his stage name. She entertained with him at Airline Motors and other places in the area. “He loved to play music and watch people dance,” said Arcana, who added that he had a brain tumor removed last year and was just getting back on track. He had been out for a couple of months after surgery, and Arcana said, “All through his therapy, he couldn’t wait to get back. “He’s been around here a long time. He used to play at the Holiday Inn. I’d come in the door and say, Richard!’ We’d hug and kiss. He really loved to play.” Arcana said she could not work the next day. “His equipment was still set up like he had just left. We’re really going to miss him Tuesday and Thursday nights,” she added. Wehrstedt played at RJ’s Lounge on Tuesdays and Airline Motors on Thursday nights. “There’s still a sign up at RJ’s that says Richard is back,'” she said, adding that it had been put up after he returned from his surgery. According to Capt. Mike Tregre of the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office, Keirsey is being held at the Sherman R. Walker Correctional Center in LaPlace on $440,000 bond set by Judge Mary Hotard Becnel. Lt. Rick Hylander, a traffic commander for the St. John Sheriff’s Office, investigated the accident scene. Tregre said the case is still under investigation. “There are still a number of eyewitnesses that have to be interviewed,” he said.