On Saturday, June 1 at 10:45 p.m. officers from the Bogalusa Police
Department responded to an automobile accident located on Sunset Drive near the intersection of Homochitto Street that involved an overturned vehicle, according to Maj. Percy Knight, of the BPD.
“When officers arrived, the driver was still in the overturned vehicle wearing his seatbelt,” Knight said. “Officers detected an order of alcohol inside the vehicle. The driver stated that he had a passenger with him but there wasn’t a passenger in the vehicle. Officers located the passenger in a ditch near the accident scene who was unresponsive.
“Both the driver and passenger was transported by ambulance to Our Lady of Angles Hospital for the treatment of their injuries. The driver was later airlifted by a medical helicopter to Lakeview Medical Center in Mandeville for precautionary reasons.
“The passenger, Roderick D. Mark, 49, of Bogalusa, succumbed to his
injuries and was pronounced dead at Our Lady of Angles Hospital.
“The driver was medically cleared and released from Lakeview Medical Center
and he was transported back to Bogalusa by a BPD Detective.
“Once back in Bogalusa, the driver who was identified as Raymond McClain, 49,
of Franklinton was given a field sobriety test to determine if he was
too impaired to drive.
“McClain volunteered to submit to a Breathalyzer test to check the level of his intoxication. The Breathalyzer test determined that McClain was over the legal limit of alcohol consumption to be driving a vehicle.”
McClain was booked on the charges of first offense of driving while
intoxicated and vehicular homicide, Knight said.