Bruce J. Hebert
December 11, 2006
Houma man leads police on chase
December 13, 2006
For two days, Georgia cousins Robert Alan Power and Daniel Stuart Rhodes scripted their own Hollywood crime film.
Only the car theft and subsequent shooting of two Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s deputies the two have been credited with won’t play on the big screen. It will, however, be recounted for a judge when Power and Rhodes are tried for two counts of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer.
The two officers, Deputies Roland Guillot and Bridget Rupe, in the meantime, are expected to recover from the wounds they sustained in last week’s shootout with the Georgia men, according to LPSO spokesman Larry Weidel.
Rupe underwent eight hours of surgery to restore the blood flow to the lower part of her left arm Tuesday, Weidel said. She was expected to undergo a second surgery the following day, he said, and a plastic surgeon was scheduled to assist. She remains in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
Rupe is a single mother of a 3-year-old daughter. Her fiancé has remained at her side through the ordeal, and her father arrived from New York last week, Weidel said.
Doctors removed debris from Guillot’s wounds Tuesday, and he remained hospitalized through most of the week, Weidel said. He continues to receive outpatient treatment, the sheriff said.
Guillot, the father of six children, was wearing a protective vest in keeping with a promise he made to his wife Amy when he returned to law enforcement. Webre and fellow lawmen credit the vest with saving the deputy’s life.
Webre announced Wednesday that a fund for the injured deputies has been set up through the Lafourche Deputies Association. Contributions or donations can be made the LDA Relief Fund, P.O. Box 1096, Thibodaux, LA 70301. Monies are also being accepted for the deputies at any branch of Capital One Bank or any sheriff’s office.
Authorities believe Power, 18, of Martinez, Ga., and Rhodes, 22, of Harlem, Ga., stole a white 1990 Chevrolet pickup truck in Georgia Monday and traveled La. 1 en route to California to launch their film career.
Surveillance cameras recorded the two around 9 p.m. outside a convenience store about a mile outside of Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said at a press conference last Tuesday.
The two men slept inside the stolen truck outside the store, Webre said. Investigators believe the two were out of cash, low on fuel and were most likely lost.
“At some point they concocted a plan to steal a second car and abandon the one they had stolen in Georgia,” the sheriff said.
Shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday, a man pulled into the convenience store in a 1999 blue Chevrolet truck. After pumping gas into his vehicle, the man pulled the truck closer to the store entrance, left the keys inside and the vehicle running, and went inside to pay for the gas, Webre said. As Power drove away in the stolen Georgia truck, Rhodes climbed inside the cab of the blue Thibodaux truck and drove off, the sheriff said.
The store clerk and the owner of the truck quickly notified the sheriff’s office, and dispatchers alerted deputies patrolling the area to be on the lookout for the blue truck, Webre said.
Guillot and Rupe, who were patrolling nearby, intercepted the blue truck and executed a felony stop shortly before 6:30 a.m., the sheriff said.
Guillot, a field training officer, was supervising Rupe, who was a recent graduate of the LPSO Training Academy. She joined the department in April; Guillot has nearly two years’ service with the LPSO.
The stop was a textbook procedure, Webre said, with Guillot taking the lead and Rupe providing cover.
But when Power drove the “ambush vehicle” back to scene, it became every officer’s nightmare.
“Power either noticed his accomplice was not behind him or saw him pulled over by police and returned,” Webre said. “He pulled up close to the police car, leaned out the driver’s window and fired a shot with a 20-guage shotgun.”
The first round struck in the back. The pellets from the blast did not penetrate his bulletproof vest, but did pierce his body, the sheriff said. Rupe was struck in the left arm near the elbow, Webre said.
Both deputies took cover and returned fire, the sheriff said. After the volley of shots, Power circled around and picked up Rhodes. The two fled in the white Chevrolet pickup.
Using a necktie, Webre said Guillot was able to contain the bleeding in Rupe’s arm until medical help arrived. He also radioed for police backup, the sheriff said.
Acadian Air-Med flew both deputies to Thibodaux Regional.
Rupe underwent surgeries to repair her arm Tuesday and Wednesday, according to authorities. Guillot was treated Tuesday but remained hospitalized through most of the week.
Power and Rhodes led police on an extensive manhunt Tuesday after they abandoned the stolen Chevrolet in the St. Charles community south of La. 1. The truck was found crashed into a fence near a locked gate just off the state highway. Webre said law enforcement officials from a 50-mile radius provided support n air patrol, four-wheelers, K-9s and officers n as they scoured the wooded area where the two Georgia men ran.
After a 90-minute “massive dragnet,” Power and Rhodes were apprehended, Webre said.
Once the two were captured, Webre said Rhodes confessed to wearing a protective vest during the incident.
Power and Rhodes were charged Tuesday with two counts of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, theft of an auto, and two counts of possession of stolen property. Rhodes was also charged with unlawful use of body armor.
State District Judge Buddy Larose set bond for the two cousins at $5 million each.
The two are being held in separate sections of the Lafourche Parish jail.
Staff photo by Matt LeBlanc • Tri-Parish Times/ Sheriff Craig Webre receives word from deputies that Robert Alan Power and Daniel Stuart Rhodes, two Georgia cousins, had been captured. The two men shot Deputies Bridge Rupe and Roland Guillot last week.
