Metarie, LA: Metairie man convicted of negligence in death of girlfriend run over by pickup

Published: Thursday, November 18, 2010, 9:42 PM Updated: Thursday, November 18, 2010, 9:49 PM
Paul Purpura, The Times-Picayune
A Metairie man's actions rose to the level of criminal negligence last year when he accidentally rolled over his girlfriend with a pickup truck and its trailer during an argument at a busy East Jefferson intersection, a Jefferson Parish jury decided Thursday night in finding him guilty of negligent homicide.

Lawrence Mangerchine, 39, faces up to five years in prison for the death of Ingra Serpas, 32, who died from the injuries she received on the morning of Jan. 2, 2009, on Transcontinental Drive at Veterans Boulevard. Chief Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court will sentence him Dec. 1.
An argument between Mangerchine and Serpas turned violent, Mangerchine said, when she struck him in the face in the truck's cab. Mangerchine forced her out and locked the door, he said, When the traffic light over the southbound lanes of Transcontinental turned green, he accelerated as she attempted to re-enter the truck through the driver's side door.
Serpas fell under the truck's rear wheel, and then was run over again by two wheels on the work trailer. She died shortly after.
"I'm not saying he intentionally killed Ingra, but his actions caused her death," Assistant District Attorney Kellie Rish said in closing argument.
Mangerchine's attorney Thomas Calogero said his client was trying to flee an explosive dispute caused by Serpas, who he accused of being under the influence of legal and illegal narcotics.
"It's what rational people do," Calogero said. "They run from violent situations, and that is what he did."
Witnesses described seeing a highly animated argument unfold in the truck, and then saw Serpas trying to regain entry through the passenger door. Unable to get in, she ran to the front of the truck, where Mangerchine gunned the truck forward at her several times. She went to the driver's side and was yelling at the driver when the traffic light turned green. She was holding onto the door handle when Mangerchine accelerated, witnesses said.
One of the witnesses was Anthony Ritter, a 31-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department who now is an investigator for the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office. He happened to be stopped at the intersection in front of the warring couple and watched much of it unfold in his rear view mirrors. When the light turned green, he saw Mangerchine accelerate and Serpas fall. The left rear tire ran over her head, and the two left tires on the trailer ran over her torso, Ritter said.
Two other motorists drove into Mangerchine's path to prevent him from fleeing, Ritter said. He and those motorists held Mangerchine for deputies, he said.
Mangerchine told detectives he did not feel the truck bounce as it rolled over Serpas and noticed her on the ground in his rear-view mirror just before the trailer's wheels hit her. He said he stopped immediately, a claim Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Detective Jeffrey Rodrigue disputed.
"If he immediately stopped, the trailer would not have run over her," Rodrigue testified.
Assistant District Attorney Loren Dileo argued Mangerchine's actions marked a "gross deviation" to those of a reasonable person under the same circumstances. She said Serpa's actions, in banging on the truck and yelling at its driver, were reasonable.
"She's stranded," Dileo said. "She had nothing in her hands. No money. No phone. No ID. No purse."