Former cop Thibodaux’s first suicide of the year

Thibodaux Police Department discovered the body of 56-year-old Ronald Babin of 101 Belmont Drive, after attempting to serve an order of protective custody last Monday at 1:45 p.m.

Earlier that day, Babin’s family sought a protective order from the Lafourche Parish Coroner under the suspicion that something was wrong with him. In fact, Babin was arrested on April 26 following a disturbance at his home.

“Mr. Babin was intoxicated and he refused to leave the residence,” said Thibodaux Police spokesman Lt. Sam Pruitt.

Babin has no other criminal history. He served approximately 10 to 12 years on the Thibodaux Police force in the 1980s and 1990s.

When police arrived at Babin’s home with the court order to transport him to Leonard Chabert Medical Center in Houma, he allegedly handed officers a suicide note and barricaded himself inside the residence.

“When police knocked on the door, Mr. Babin answered and handed police a note. Then he closed the door and dead-bolted it,” Pruitt said.

Because of the proximity of Babin’s home to North Canal Boulevard’s retail strip, police shut down the street from Rienzi Drive to Melrose Drive.

Two police negotiators made several failed attempts to contact Babin inside the home, and Thibodaux’s SWAT and the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office Crisis Management teams were called to surround the home for possible entry, Pruitt said.

“We called inside the house and he didn’t answer, so we tried to use a throw phone that was tossed inside of the residence. He didn’t answer it either,” Pruitt said. “At that time we knew we had to come up with a plan to enter the home.”

Once inside the home, police found Babin’s body sitting on his couch with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

He was the only person in the home at the time of the shooting, according to police.

“We never heard a shot,” Pruitt said. “He was already getting stiff so we estimated that he shot himself shortly after he barricaded himself in the home.”

This is the first suicide of the year inside city limits, according to Pruitt.