Drunk Driver Arrested After Car Hits Crowd at Louisiana Lao New Year Festival

A blue sedan drove into a crowd of thousands at the Louisiana Lao New Year Festival in Coteau on Saturday afternoon, injuring 18 people as they walked the parade route toward Wat Thammarattanaram temple. The driver, Todd Landry, 57, of Jeanerette, was arrested with a blood alcohol content of 0.137 percent, nearly twice Louisiana's legal limit of 0.08 percent, and an open container of alcohol still in his vehicle.

Louisiana State Police said the crash occurred around 2:30 p.m. at the corner of Savannakhet Street and Melancon Road in Iberia Parish, less than a half-mile from the festival grounds at Wat Thammarattanaram in Lanexang Village, a Laotian community situated between Broussard and New Iberia in southwestern Louisiana. Thousands of revelers were making their way toward the temple complex, some on foot, some on makeshift floats and golf carts, when Landry's sedan struck a golf cart. Video circulating on social media showed a child falling from the front of the vehicle as it hit the crowd.

Acadian Ambulance transported 13 patients from the scene: 11 by ground and two by air. The Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office said some injuries were serious. Landry was booked into the Iberia Parish jail on 18 counts of first-degree negligent injuring, driving while impaired as a first offense, careless operation, and possession of an open container. The Sheriff's Office said the crash did not appear intentional, a distinction that shapes how charges are framed but does not diminish their weight. Under Louisiana law, first-degree negligent injuring applies when criminal negligence causes bodily harm, a standard prosecutors typically argue is met when a driver operating at nearly double the legal BAC steers into a pedestrian-dense parade corridor.

The crash struck at the center of what organizers call an internationally recognized cultural tradition. The festival draws Buddhist monks from across the country to Coteau every Easter weekend for a three-day celebration anchored at Wat Thammarattanaram and featuring live music, food vendors, a beauty pageant, and the Lanexang Village procession. Organizers canceled Saturday evening's concerts immediately after the incident and suspended alcohol sales, though vendors were permitted to remain open until 9 p.m. "We are profoundly saddened by the news of the incident near the festival grounds," organizers wrote on the event's Facebook page. "We are praying for the victims and for their families during this difficult time." The festival said it hoped to reopen Sunday for religious services if security resources could be restored.

The incident immediately surfaced a question that urban planners and public safety officials have confronted repeatedly at community parades in recent years: what physical controls existed to prevent a vehicle with an impaired driver from entering a route carrying thousands of pedestrians. The processional moved through residential streets in Lanexang Village, and video showed Landry's sedan reaching the crowd near the intersection where police responded. Reinforced barricades, sworn traffic officers at key crossings, and stricter alcohol enforcement in parade corridors have all become standard recommendations after similar vehicle-into-crowd incidents elsewhere in the country, though implementation varies widely depending on event size and local resources.

The legal exposure Landry faces reflects how seriously Louisiana treats mass-casualty impaired driving. Each of the 18 people his vehicle struck constitutes a separate count of first-degree negligent injuring, a felony charge, in addition to the DWI and careless operation counts. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry issued a statement offering prayers for those injured and thanks to first responders. The investigation remained ongoing Saturday evening with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office as the lead agency.