By Jason Brown
The Advocate, Acadiana Edition
LAFAYETTE, Fla. - A Florida man was arrested early Sunday morning for allegedly trying to run over a Lafayette Parish deputy after crashing into a vehicle and backing into Don’s Seafood Restaurant downtown.
Ian C. Morgan, 30, of Palm Beach, Fla., was arrested for attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hit-and-run and unauthorized use of a movable, said Lt. Craig Stansbury, spokesman for the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office.
City police said the incident began about 2:30 a.m. after Morgan crashed a stolen GMC Sierra truck - with the sleeping owner nestled in the back seat - into another vehicle at Lee Avenue and Vermilion Street.
Morgan then continued to accelerate and pushed the other vehicle through the intersection.
A deputy working a downtown detail witnessed the crash and ran to the truck’s driver side window commanding the driver to stop.
Stansbury said Morgan put the truck in reverse and backed up into Don’s Seafood Restaurant, then drove forward toward the deputy.
Fearing for his safety, the deputy fired several shots at the vehicle, hitting it several times, Stansbury said.
One of the bullets struck the radiator, which stopped the truck about six blocks away at Second Street near Garfield.
Stansbury said the owner’s friends had put him in the truck to sleep following a downtown outing.
The friends left the unidentified man in the backseat with the truck running, the air conditioning on and apparently with the doors unlocked.
“We have to assume that (Morgan) came across the vehicle, got in and took off and did not know someone was in the vehicle,” Stansbury said.
No one was injured in the incident and Don’s Seafood Restaurant was able to open the same day with some modifications to one dining room.
Morgan was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on a $35,000 bond.
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