Advocate staff photo by Leila Navidi
A Baton Rouge police car was wrecked after an officer chased Keith J. Meche, 44, who is accused of escaping Thursday from the West Baton Rouge Parish Prison
.Baton Rouge Police car stolen by prisoner and crashed
8/23/04 - By JOSH NOEL and EMILY KERN -
Advocate staff writers|
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Advocate staff photo by Leila Navidi |
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A Baton Rouge police car was wrecked after an officer chased Keith J. Meche, 44, who is accused of escaping Thursday from the West Baton Rouge Parish Prison . |
A convicted rapist whose spotless record earned him trusty privileges at the West Baton Rouge Parish Prison is back in jail after being accused of walking away from his job in the prison garden and stealing a patrol car Monday night.
Keith J. Meche, 44, had been one of the prison's most trusted inmates for the last 10 years, West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Mike Cazes said.
"He was a respected and trusted guy and got a lot of leeway because he never had a write up," Cazes said. "I don't know what made him do it."
Meche has been an inmate since 1994. He was sentenced to 25 years of hard labor in the kidnapping and rape of a Lafayette woman on Valentines Day in 1993.
Meche had sprayed insecticide in the jail's vegetable garden every night with for nearly 10 years, Cazes said. Although the garden is on prison grounds, it is not fenced or monitored by guards, allowing easy escape, he said.
Since his arrest, Meche has been placed in an isolated cell.
A Baton Rouge Police officer spotted the patrol car about 9:20 p.m. Thursday in Monte Sano Park, 2727 Greenwell St., after the park had closed, a police news release says.
When the officer tried to stop the driver by turning on the lights on top of his car, the sheriff's patrol car sped away.
Both Meche and the police officer lost control of their vehicles in the 6500 block of Scenic Highway and crashed into a guard rail. No one was hurt in the accidents, the release says.
Meche and his passenger, Judy K. Prejean, 36, ran from the wreck, the release says.
Prejean was caught near the scene, but Meche escaped. He returned to the prison about 9:40 p.m., after catching a ride, Cazes said.
When Cazes learned that Meche had returned to the prison after the incident, he ordered Meche to be returned to the scene of the accident, where Baton Rouge officers identified him.
He was booked into West Baton Rouge Parish Prison on counts of unauthorized use of a movable and simple escape.
In East Baton Rouge Parish, Meche was arrested on counts of trespassing in a BREC park, resisting an officer, fleeing to elude, failure to maintain control, hit and run, driver's license required and careless operation.
Meche is accused of stealing the patrol unit from a maintenance shop.