Louisiana prosecutors said they will look into the case of a suspected drunken driver who was not arrested by a Terrebonne sheriff's deputy last month.
Meanwhile, the district attorney said he does not believe the sheriff did anything wrong criminally by calling the deputy and urging him to let the driver go.
Toby Guillory, 26, a Terrebonne native who now lives in Friendswood, Texas, was seen driving the wrong way down Bayou Dularge Road when he was pulled over by deputy Paul Thibodeaux the morning of April 8. Guillory admitted he was drunk, a police report says, and Thibodeaux was going to book him into the Terrebonne Parish jail on a DWI and careless operation charge.
However, a phone call from Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois changed the course of action. According to recordings from the Sheriff's Office's radio room, Thibodeaux explains the situation to Bourgeois, who in turn says he would appreciate it if the deputy would “cut him a break.”
Guillory, the husband of the granddaughter of Houma attorney Jake Walker, was then let go, the report says.
Bourgeois has said he did not explicitly tell the deputy to let Guillory go. He also said he did not know Walker's law firm contributed money to his 2007 election campaign.
Rafael Goyeneche III, president of the New Orleans-based Metropolitan Crime Commission, has said Bourgeois's actions border on criminal behavior.
However, District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. said he doesn't think, at least criminally, there is much to investigate.
