Texas police have booked a Louisiana State Trooper with intoxication manslaughter in connection with a fatal Texas crash.
Toxicology tests run on Patrick Bell, 45, indicate he was over the legal limit for intoxication, a release from state police says.
Bell is accused in connection with an August 29 crash on Texas State Highway 63. He was traveling westbound at about 3 p.m., then ran off the road and struck a pedestrian on the shoulder, the release sates. The pedestrian was killed. A toxicology sample was taken from Bell right after the crash.
The crash claimed the life of Frederic Joshua Goleman, 59, of Jasper.
Bell has not been on duty as a trooper since 2017; he's been on worker's compensation leave since then, the release states. Prior to that leave, Bell had been on patrol as a trooper, assigned to Troop D, since 2001.
Bell was arrested today, after the toxicology report was complete. He was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Beauregard Parish jail; he'll be extradited to Texas later.
