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Victim in police chase that ended in crash looking for help repairing home
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BATON ROUGE — A woman's home was hit by a teen driving a stolen car at the end of a police pursuit. Her front porch is now propped up by jacks and doesn't have a working gas meter.
Thankfully, Connie Bailey wasn't injured in the incident, but her home is damaged because of that car crashing into her house. She's disabled, on a fixed income and can't afford the repairs. Michael Clouart is Bailey's neighbor. He reached out to 2 On Your Side fearing the woman might be forgotten.
"All she's asking is her damage be repaired, that's all," Clouart said.
Bailey often sits on her front porch in the mornings. Two weeks ago she was inside when the crash happened.
"I heard a loud bam, bam! Then my house shook from one side to the other," Bailey said.
Baton Rouge Police said the car crashed into two houses on Odell Street and broke a gas meter at the end of a police pursuit. Without working gas, Bailey is unable to cook on her stove, heat her home or take a hot bath.
Clouart helped Bailey file a damage claim through the city. He said the city's adjuster, Sedgwick, reached out to him on Friday telling him that Baton Rouge Police is not responsible.
"The City of Baton Rouge is not liable for any of these damages," he said.
Instead he was told to file a claim with another party inadvertently involved: the car owner.
"He wants us to go after the insurance that covers the stolen car, that was being driven by the 16-year-old suspect!" Clouart said.
Bailey has lived in her home all of her life. While the house shows its age, before the car ran into it, it was functional. Now it is not.
"We know you guys were doing a fantastic job, you were doing what you had to do but in the process the lady's home was damaged, just make good and repair her home," Clouart said.
BRPD said the officers involved followed policy. Sedgwick said it is unable to release any information on this case.
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