Police and fire briefs for Nov. 20, 2008

• Advocate staff report
• Published: Nov 20, 2008 - Page: 8B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Student, 17, arrested; gun found on bus
A student at Valley Park Alternative School was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly left a gun on a school bus, said Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office.

The bus driver found the loaded .38-caliber revolver inside a book sack belonging to Nicholas Byrd on Tuesday, Hicks said. The gun was wrapped in a pair of gym shorts, she said.

The school’s regulations dictate that students leave their book sacks on their buses, Hicks said.

Byrd, 17, was booked into Parish Prison on one count of carrying a concealed weapon in a firearm-free zone, Hicks said.

Suspect arrested in business robbery
Police arrested a man who allegedly robbed a business Monday on Florida Boulevard, an affidavit of probable cause says.

Jerome Warner, 49, 10625 Florida Blvd., allegedly walked into Tigeris Wings, 10047 Florida Blvd., and asked the store’s manager, Chasib Khala, to speak with the store’s owner, the document says.

When the manager went to get the owner, Ali Awad, they saw Warner on surveillance cameras taking money out of the cash register, the affidavit says. Warner took money and a cell phone from the store, the document says.

Warner ran to a business next door when Awad and Khala tried to confront him, the affidavit says.

Awad pursued Warner, and the two men got into a fight, during which Awad was stabbed twice in the arm. His injuries were non-life-threatening, the affidavit says.

Warner then fled the scene, the affidavit says, but was later apprehended by police.

Parish Prison booking records show that Warner was booked on one count of armed robbery and one count of aggravated battery.
His bond set at $125,000.

Stuck tractor-trailer clogs Airline traffic
A tractor-trailer stuck under an Interstate 12 overpass caused a major traffic delay during Wednesday afternoon’s rush hour, blocking the northbound lanes of Airline Highway for hours, Police Department spokesman Sgt. Don Kelly said.

The tractor-trailer got stuck about 4:20 p.m., Kelly said, because the cargo was too tall to pass under the overpass.