CRIME REPORTS
December 2, 2015
Joy Boudreaux
December 2, 2015
Saturday afternoon was sunny and breezy, and if you were driving down some of the highways where the cattle graze, with the egrets trailing behind them because of the symbiotic relationship and all, you might figure it was a good day to be a cow.
As a bovine you might then think it a good day for a stroll outside the confines of fencing, which is just what happened near Bayou Dularge Road. The cattle nonchalantly stepped onto property where they were not supposed to be.
That’s where Charles Cook, one of Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter’s deputies, comes in. A call came in to TPSO dispatch – Dularge is not in the city’s limits.
Charles, who is 25-years-old, began working at the Sheriff’s Office almost three years ago, starting at the jail as a correctional officer and then moving on to road patrol.
“I really never thought of myself as being a police officer,” said Charles. “A close friend of mine talked me into it and I love it. I tried it out and I love it. It’s spontaneous and very different.”
Saturday was proof of that.
Prior to being called out to help with the horses, Charles had responded to an address where a child had accidentally called 911. When anyone calls 911 and hangs up, law enforcement automatically responds, just in case, and Charles was as happy as anyone to learn that nothing was wrong.
While en route to Dularge, Charles tried to figure out what awaited him, as any good cop does.
“I was thinking I would either have to block off the roadway or look for cows,” said Charles. “Pretty much I was going to see what was going to happen and take it as it comes.”
The cattle-herding all was not Charles Cook’s first rodeo.
Not so long ago he and other deputies had to help when a horse got loose from some property on Grand Caillou Road, which was followed onto the road by a zebra – yes a zebra, one of two on that property – and all went well.
There was a novel aspect to the Dularge call, since this would be Charles’ first time dealing with runaway – or walk-away – cows.
As it turns out, another lawman was involved in the cattle incident.
The property next door to the place where the cows were supposed to be was owned by relatives of Houma Police Chief Dana Coleman, who personally fulfilled the need for a cowpoke that the circumstance demanded.
An accomplished horseman who began riding when he was 5-years-old, the off-duty chief mounted a quarter horse mare named Sassy, and got to work, but not before calling for backup.
There was a risk that the cattle could stray onto the highway, which might be a bad thing for them as well as any passing motorists.
Charles strategically placed his patrol car so as to warn any who might come along, while the cowboys got to work, riding out to where the cattle were.
“They got on the horses and tried to herd them back onto the neighbors’ property, they had to go almost to the highway,” said Charles, who called out “get ‘em chief!”
The riders were successful and helped the neighbors fix their fencing, so that the cattle would stay where they were required to be.
Charles went back on patrol.
Another call was waiting when he moved on, an alarm that got tripped at a commercial building. All went well there too. There was no burglary. Just the alarm.
Saturday night Charles related the story to his wife, whose name is Brittney. She cares for their four young children and handles the ups and downs that come with being the wife of a law enforcement officer the best she can.
“She’s proud of me,” Charles Cook said. “But she would rather me work at the jail, it’s more of a controlled environment.”
The cattle-herding assignment, even if it just involved keeping his eyes peeled and being ready to act if needed, is reflective of the spontaneous nature of the job one of the things he says makes it not just a job but a career.
It is the surprises like this that for him and a lot of other officers make the job something more than just another day at the office. •
