Causeway Police Chief Loicano resigns

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Police Chief Felix Loicano resigned Tuesday after a special investigative panel found the eight-year chief might have authorized special treatment for Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price during a controversial traffic stop stop in April.

Loicano, who could not be reached for comment, told Causeway commissioners during a meeting Tuesday his resignation was the “best action” for the department, Robert Lambert, the Causeway’s general manager, said.

Loicano’s resignation comes after an independent panel found the chief’s “judgment will always be questioned” after he failed to order Sgt. Chris Dupont and Officer Chad Dorsett to have Price submit to a field sobriety test in the early morning hours of April 23. Per Causeway Police protocol, Dupont called Loicano at his home when Price was stopped. The officers were told to use their own judgment, Loicano has said.

Price, who admitted to drinking a “couple of beers,” ran into and broke a tollbooth barrier just before midnight April 22 despite warnings from a tollbooth operator to stop. He continued to drive southbound three miles without his headlights on. When he was finally stopped, Price, who told officers to “not make a big deal of this,” was not given a sobriety test and arranged for a family member to pick him up.

The incident sparked public outrage and spurred the Metropolitan Crime Commission to call for an independent investigation.

That investigation, outlined in a 29-page report by William Reinhardt of the law firm Blue Williams, LLP, included advice from Causeway commissioners and a Drug Enforcement Agency agent. It found Dupont and Dorsett should be fired and Loicano should resign. The report also aimed its sights on Lt. Michael Kast, who spoke with Dupont on the phone during the traffic stop. Kast, the report said, should also be fired.

“There is no way to avoid the public perception that, because Eddie Price is the mayor of Mandeville, he was given preferential treatment,” the report said. “The specter of this will forever cloud the actions of Sgt. Dupont and Officer Dorsett and the present administration of the Causeway Police Department.”

Lambert said he is considering the recommendations and will meet with Dupont and Dorsett before making a decision.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” said Lambert. “But the bottom line is this is a media event. The people want to know. The commission thought the best way to clear the air and be transparent is to get (outside consultants) to look at the good, bad and ugly.”

The report was unveiled Tuesday at a meeting of the Causeway Commission in Metairie.

Later in the meeting, commissioners were set to hear an appeal by Dupont, who was demoted by Loicano following the chief’s own investigation. Dorsett was also demoted and, like Dupont, had his take home car privileges revoked.

Dupont, through his attorney, has said he felt pressure from Loicano to let Price go even though he thought “something was wrong.”

Price, who’s been at the center of a political firing range following the incident, said Tuesday he was almost speechless.

“I don’t know what to say about it. I haven’t talked to the chief, so I didn’t know what his plans were. I have no clue,” Price said.

“I feel real bad about it, of course. If my incident prompted that … I feel horrible,” he said.

The resignation of Loicano, 61, ends his eight-year tenure as Causeway police chief and seems to end in scandal a more than 35-year career that started at the New Orleans Police Department.