Man who stole from a Chalmette store attempted to run over a sheriff’s deputy when he fled but was arrested next morning when his vehicle was spotted again; Heroin, cocaine and a stolen television

A Hahnville man who stole from a Chalmette store attempted to run over a sheriff’s deputy when he fled in a vehicle but was arrested the next morning when he returned to the parish and his vehicle was spotted, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

A stolen 55-inch television and amounts of heroin, crack cocaine and a crack pipe were found in a 2003 Dodge Durango that Titus White, 33, was driving when he was seen in Chalmette about 5 a.m. Sunday, the sheriff said. White jumped from the moving vehicle when pursued by an officer and ran as the Durango partially went into a drainage canal, the sheriff said.

White is now held in the St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of $200,000 bond set Monday.

Sheriff Pohlmann said White tried to run over a sheriff’s deputy working an off-duty security detail at the Wal-Mart store in Chalmette about 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 3. He said the officer had followed White to a parking lot after White was identified by store officials as having stolen a television in the store a little earlier that evening, then had returned, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

The deputy stepped out of the way as White tried to run over him but got the license number of the vehicle. White fled toward New Orleans and wasn’t found that night, the sheriff said. In his flight, White struck a shopping cart, pushing it into a parked vehicle in the parking lot.

However, White returned to Chalmette about 5 a.m. Sunday, some eight hours after the incident with the deputy.

White was caught by deputies in the 400 block of East Celestine Street after the foot pursuit following him jumping from the Durango.

He was booked with numerous charges, including attempted murder of the deputy he tried to run over, theft from the store, possession of heroin, crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia, criminal damage, reckless operation, hit-and-run driving, flight from an officer and resisting arrest.

Authorities speculated White may have returned to Chalmette to sell the stolen television or the drugs to someone he knows in the parish.