A handcuffed prisoner in a moving police cruiser managed to grab a gun, fatally shoot the officer at the wheel and escape from the vehicle, which careened into a utility pole at a busy intersection, police said Saturday.
Officer Daryle Holloway, 45, died at a hospital, police chief Michael Harrison said. Meanwhile, an intense manhunt was on for Travis Boys, 33, the suspect who had been arrested on an aggravated assault charge and was being taken to jail when he escaped.
The New Orleans Crimestoppers organization announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to Boys' arrest.
Rifle-toting police in bullet-proof vests, some with trained canines, searched whole blocks of one neighborhood about a mile from the city's French Quarter Sunday afternoon.