Luke Dufrene, 23, said he was on his way to work when he saw a baby being allegedly left on the median of US Highway 90 in Raceland.
A Louisiana man sprang into action to save a baby he said had been left in the middle of a busy highway by another man, according to reports.
“I looked back and he took off, leaving the child there, so I flipped a U-turn in the grass to get to the baby,” Luke Dufrene, 23, told The Houma Courier.
Dufrene said he was on his way to work when he saw the baby being allegedly left on the median of US Highway 90 in Raceland. He said he positioned his truck in front of the child for protection and within minutes he saw the baby’s mother running towards him, WFTV Ch. 9 Orlando reported.
“Thank God witnesses seen and got to him before I could,” the mother, who was not identified, told the Courier.
Dillon Terrebonne, 27, allegedly abandoned the baby on the side of the road after an argument ensued that ended with the child’s mother being physically assaulted, the LaFourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Police said the baby and the mother had been in the vehicle with Terrebonne when a fight had broken out. Terrebonne stopped the SUV, walked to the passenger side and started hitting the woman in the head and strangling her, according to a statement by LaFourche Sheriff Craig Webre.
Police said the child’s mother was able to get out of the vehicle. During that time, Terrebonne allegedly jumped back into the car, which was owned by the woman, drove away, stopped again to leave the baby in their carrier on the side of the road, and then sped off, cops said.
The mother ran to her child and deputies arrived a short time later.
Terrebonne was arrested in Abbeville later that night and taken to the Lafourche Parish jail. He was charged with domestic abuse battery involving strangulation, child endangerment, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Total bail has not yet been set, the sheriff’s deputies said in a statement.
The mother told The Courier that she was still hurting both physically and mentally but reported that her baby was not injured.
In the meantime, Dufrene said he has been overwhelmed by all the kind words everyone has sent his way and added, “I just did what any good human would do.”
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