{"id":185828,"date":"2026-04-05T00:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T00:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/185828\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T00:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T00:45:14","slug":"driver-smashes-into-crowd-at-louisiana-lao-new-year-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/185828\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver smashes into crowd at Louisiana Lao New Year Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More than a dozen people were injured when a car plowed through a crowd gathered for a cultural parade and festival in <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/tag\/louisiana\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">New \u200bIberia, Louisiana<\/a> Saturday, according to cops and local reports.<\/p>\n<p>At least 15 people were wounded including some in critical condition after the vehicle barreled through parade-goers at the Lao New Year Festival, according to the Iberia Parish Sheriff\u2019s Office and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kadn.com\/news\/crime\/20-injured-after-alleged-drunk-driver-crashes-into-new-iberia-parade\/article_903c1584-150d-4b78-8130-69584c48b5a3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">News15.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.62109375;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38993826\" width=\"366\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20-people-rushed-hospital-car-125024120.jpg\" alt=\"People assisting an injured person on the ground.\" class=\"wp-image-38993826\"  \/>A suspect was arrested after the incident.  Facebook\/Bubblez Laila<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.77777778;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38993741\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20-people-rushed-hospital-car-125023348.jpg\" alt=\"Crowd of people and emergency vehicles, including a fire truck and a police car, on a street.\" class=\"wp-image-38993741\"  \/>At least 15 people were wounded. X\/BLT21_<\/p>\n<p>Two of the victims were airlifted to the hospital, Acadian \u200bAmbulance said on X.<\/p>\n<p>Officers took the driver into custody following the terrifying crash, which happened near the corner of Savannakhet Street and Melancon Road, the sheriff said. <\/p>\n<p>The crash is not believed to have been an intentional act, the sheriff\u2019s office added.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies are investigating if the driver may have been drunk, but nothing has been confirmed yet, according to News15.<\/p>\n<p>The parade was part of an annual three-day festival held in Lanexang Village each Easter weekend to celebrate the Lao New Year. The event \u2014 the largest of its kind in the US \u2014 has been held since the 1980s when it began as a small block party catering to the area\u2019s growing Lao community,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nola.com\/acadiana\/news\/crime_police\/lao-festival-crash-arrest\/article_5a122422-caf3-593f-8a48-d4d51637d4aa.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> according to NOLA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Festival organizers canceled the evening\u2019s planned music programs and concerts, as well as alcohol sales. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe \u200bare profoundly \u200bsaddened by \u2060the news of the incident near the festival grounds,\u201d the organizers \u200bsaid on Facebook. \u201cWe are praying for the \u200bvictims \u2060and for their families during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elected officials also offered support for the victims of the crash. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSharon and I are praying for all those affected, and are grateful for the first responders who have responded to the scene,\u201d Gov. Jeff Landry <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LAGovJeffLandry\/status\/2040531473116053508\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a dozen people were injured when a car plowed through a crowd gathered for a cultural&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[254,3056,1775,9,11,10,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-185828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-car-crashes","9":"tag-festivals","10":"tag-louisiana","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}