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One dead, eight vehicles involved in crash as BRPD rushes to aid of officer under fire
BATON ROUGE - A man was killed in a crash late Friday night involving a Baton Rouge Police unit responding to a call from an officer who had come under fire moments earlier. A total of eight vehicles were damaged or destroyed in what BRPD described as a "major traffic crash."
Two scenes took shape along Government Street -- the first, the location of the shootout; the other, the site of the crash.
One of those scenes was near the edge of the Garden District and another at Government and South Foster Drive.
Detectives believe that a marked police Ford Explorer was headed west on Government Street about 10:45 p.m. with lights and sirens activated when it entered that intersection. It struck a black Chevrolet Impala sedan headed south on South Foster Drive.
Early Saturday morning, officials identified the man who was killed in that wreck: 38-year-old Caleb James Chappetta.
Officials said he died at the scene.
Two officers were injured and taken to the hospital. One of those officers was released Sunday. The extent of the other officer's injuries was unknown.
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Parts of the vehicles -- some, large chunks ripped from the chassis -- were strewn across the road.
As the coroner and police tended to the scene at Government and South Foster, officers also converged on an area surrounding Government and South 16th streets -- about two miles away.
They established a perimeter bounded by Government Street, 14th, Olive and 17th as part of the response at the initial call site. That area remained cordoned off into the early morning hours.
BRPD told WBRZ that one or more armed individuals there fired on officers and ran off, prompting the call for assistance.
No officers were hurt at that location.
The department said it does not know if the shooter or anyone who may have been with the shooter was injured. They remained at large early Saturday.
WBRZ spoke to friends of Chapetta on Saturday, who said they are heartbroken over the loss. Witnesses in the area told WBRZ they did not hear sirens as the BRPD unit went through the intersection.
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