Shreveport Mardi Gras captain arrested on DWI for fifth time

A Shreveport man is no longer serving as a senior Mardi Gras volunteer following a fifth drunken driving arrest.

Brett Burdges, 34, was arrested Dec. 23 and was booked in the Caddo Correctional Center with bail set at $15,000. He was released a day later — Christmas Eve — after posting bail, said clerks at the Caddo Correctional Center.

Burdges was named captain of captains for the NWLA Mardi Gras Association in March.

Krewe captains met on Dec. 28, where Brian Landry was selected to serve as the interim captain of captains. Landry had previously served as captain of captains and Captain XVI for the Krewe of Justinian.

Krewe captains contacted by The Times declined to discuss the meeting or to say why Burdges no longer is captain of captains.

He left the office just days ahead of the formal start of Mardi Gras activities in Shreveport, with the annual Mardi Gras mass set for Saturday, Jan. 6, and krewe parades to follow.

Burdges kept the Mardi Gras community informed of key events and showed support and compassion following the death of John "Trey" Auld, a member of the Krewe of Centaur, said Larry Pettiette, captain of the Krewe of Justinian.

"Brett did a good job," Pettiette said.

Burdges's Dec. 23 arrest was his second DWI arrest in 2017. Still pending in Caddo District Court is a charge stemming from an Aug. 19 arrest.

Burdges was arrested and later convicted for DWIs twice in 2009 and again in 2016, according to court documents.

The penalty for a fourth DWI offense in Louisiana is a fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for 10 to 30 years. State law does not provide for DWI offenses above a fourth offense.