State trooper suffers spinal fracture during Bourbon Street narcotics arrest

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A Louisiana State Police trooper sustained a spinal fracture Tuesday (July 2) while attempting to arrest a narcotics suspect on Bourbon Street, a law enforcement source told Fox 8.

The trooper was undergoing surgery Wednesday and his prognosis was not immediately clear, the source said.

A State Police spokesperson confirmed to Fox 8 that two troopers assigned to Troop NOLA were injured Tuesday during the apprehension of 40-year-old Damon Dawson, saying that one “suffered a serious neck injury” while the other “suffered a minor injury.”

According to the law enforcement source, two troopers saw Dawson walking on Bourbon Street near Bienville Street around 3 p.m. with a lit marijuana cigar in his hand. When they attempted to stop and investigate Dawson, he ran. Three other troopers heard the commotion and intercepted the running suspect, but Dawson -- listed at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds -- ran into the troopers, knocking one head-first into a nearby wall.

Troopers said that in the collision, a bag Dawson was concealing spilled on the ground, revealing bags of marijuana, fentanyl, cocaine powder and crack cocaine packaged for sale, along with two digital scales.

The seriously injured trooper was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center for treatment of his spinal injury and a deep laceration to his scalp, according to a police affidavit obtained by Fox 8.

“These injuries sustained will cause him to miss a substantial amount of time from work,” the report said.

Dawson and two other troopers also were taken for hospital treatment of injuries described as minor.

Dawson, who according to court records lives in Little Woods and is employed by Mid-City’s Bayou Beer Garden, is an apparent career criminal who completed a 20-year prison sentence for armed robbery in 2022. He was booked early Wednesday into the Orleans Justice Center jail with battery of a police officer, resisting a police officer with force, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

An Orleans Parish Magistrate found probable cause to detain Dawson on those allegations, but also agreed with Assistant Attorney General Daniel Smart’s request to also find probable cause for attempted manslaughter in place of the battery count. Dawson’s bond was set at $730,000.

Court records show Dawson first was arrested in January 2000, as a 15-year-old accused of aggravated burglary. That charge eventually was dropped. Another charge involving a stolen vehicle in 2002 also was refused.

In October 2002, Dawson was indicted along with two other men for first-degree murder. Co-defendant Darryl Franklin later pleaded guilty and received a life sentence, while the case against co-defendant Bryan Nelson eventually was dropped in 2006. Dawson, however, was allowed to plead guilty to armed robbery in March 2003. The murder count against him was dropped and he was sentenced to 20 years in state prison.

Dawson was back on the street by December 2022, when he was arrested on an accusation of aggravated assault with a firearm and signed a domestic stay-away order. District Attorney Jason Williams’ office refused to prosecute the charge in May 2024, allowing for Dawson’s new arrest less than two months later.

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