Nearly two weeks after the crime, New Orleans police Tuesday shared a photo of a man they think struck La Jolla’s Doug David, causing a fall that paralyzed him below the neck.
Christopher S. Smith, 30, is being sought on one count of second-degree battery, authorities told The New Orleans Advocate, which first reported the news.
Police didn’t interview David in his University Medical Center room until Monday — after his niece said she made many attempts to spark an investigation.
“Well, hallelujah,” said Sharon Jones, a La Jolla friend of David, reacting to the morning announcement. “Just shows how frickin’ easy it is to find someone when you have their license number.”
Jones’ husband, Stephen, was heading to New Orleans to be with his friend since high school. But Jones was still upset over police handling of the case.
Police “were doing nothing, ignoring all of [niece] Alicia’s calls, until they got calls from the media asking why they weren’t investigating” the Oct. 15 incident near the French Quarter.
Jones said it took extensive media interest to trigger a probe “because the New Orleans Police Department didn’t want to — couldn’t be bothered.”
She called that lack of interest “appalling” and said, “Apparently this is the way things operate in New Orleans, and that’s shocking to me.”
New Orleans police spokesman Tyler Gamble declined Tuesday to comment on Jones’ assertions, but told Times of San Diego: “I can look into any calls or conversations that friends or family may have had with police if they can provide date/time/location/officer name, etc. Otherwise, I have no way [of] confirming any calls were made or conversations were had.”
Gamble reiterated that police went to the hospital after receiving a call from David’s niece early Monday morning.
“Prior to that call, the NOPD had no information that the victim of the reported incident was in the hospital,” he said.
New Orleans police, who took 40 minutes to respond to reports of an assault, at first classified it as “unfounded” after an officer arrived at the scene and found neither witnesses nor the victim.
WWL-TV reported that a witness said the assailant fled in a small black vehicle with Louisiana license plate XQT199.
The same New Orleans TV station said the 40-minute delay was even faster than “the typical NOPD response to a beating so far this year.”
“In fact, the amount of time it takes for the NOPD to respond to a simple battery has roughly tripled since 2010, from an average of 36 minutes in 2010 to 1 hour and 44 minutes in 2015, according to a New Orleans Advocate/WWL-TV analysis of roughly 2.7 million police dispatch records.”
The station reported Monday that it’s not unusual for crimes that get a slow response to be deemed “unfounded.”
The analysis also found that the number of incidents classified that way has risen steeply in tandem with increasing response times.
“ ‘Unfounded’ incidents are not counted in the city’s annual crime statistics and not reported to the FBI,” the station said. “They also typically receive no followup investigation.”
Meanwhile, a crowd-funding effort to help pay for David’s expensive medical flight home had raised nearly $4,700 of its $10,000 goal.
NBC7 San Diego reported Monday night that a chartered flight, not covered by David’s insurance, would cost $20,000.
“He essentially needs to fly in an ICU room,” niece Alicia Foulds was quoted as saying.
Tuesday afternoon, Stephen Simpson said of David via text message: “Talking well, smiling, good spirits, clearheaded — the part that matters is still there.”