BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – A veteran Louisiana State Police captain was not actually booked into parish prison on a DWI charge, despite an initial State Police news release that claimed she was.
Instead, state troopers brought Captain Belinda Murphy to the prison where she was fingerprinted and issued a misdemeanor summons. The high-ranking trooper was then released without being technically booked into prison.
That allowed her to skip the process of having a mug shot taken by jail staff. That mug shot would have then become a public record and released to the media.
In a news release sent Tuesday morning, Louisiana State Police said Murphy was “placed into custody and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of LRS 14:98 – Operating a vehicle while impaired (1st offense), LRS 14:39.1 – Vehicular negligent injuring (2 counts), and LRS 32:232 – Traffic-control signals.”
Murphy, a 24-year veteran of the force, caused a three-vehicle crash while driving her State Police vehicle early Tuesday morning, investigators said.
Murphy, 53, is accused of running a red light and crashing into two other vehicles, including a Baton Rouge police unit.
RELATED: LSP captain charged with DWI after crashing into BRPD unit
She was reportedly off-duty at the time of the early morning crash but was scheduled to be at work later in the day.
State Troopers responded to the three-vehicle crash at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Plank Road and Harding Blvd. near the airport in Baton Rouge.
All three drivers were injured. The Baton Rouge police officer and the driver of the third vehicle were treated and released at a hospital, investigators said.
Murphy is currently assigned to the Louisiana State Police Special Investigations Division. She has been placed on administrative leave with all law enforcement property recovered pending the conclusion of the criminal and administrative investigations, according to a news release from Louisiana State Police.
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