Staff Report

Shreveport Times

Shreveport Police have a man in custody accused of beating another man in an alleged hate crime.

Just before 2 p.m. on Oct. 14, patrol officers responded to reports of a man being beaten with a shovel in the 5300 block of Prentiss Avenue in west Shreveport. The victim was transported to University Health Hospital where he was treated for head injuries and a ruptured sinus cavity as a result of the beating.

Investigators learned that the victim was part of a contracting crew that was working on a city project in the area. The suspect, 25-year-old Derryon Houston of the 2800 block of Morningside Drive, began taunting the white employees with racial slurs and threatened them with bodily harm. The contractors ignored the taunts but Houston would not leave the area.

A short time later Houston threw a ball of dirt at the victim’s head and when the victim turned around, he began repeatedly striking him in the head with a shovel knocking him unconscious. His co-workers came to his aid and wrestled the shovel from Houston’s hands and he fled the scene on foot. Through evidence left at the scene and eyewitness statements, investigators were able to identify Houston as the alleged suspect and alerted neighborhood patrol officers. Just after 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 officers spotted Houston who then led them on a brief foot pursuit before they captured him.

Houston was booked into the Shreveport City Jail on charges of second-degree battery, hate crimes, resisting an officer, and fugitive warrants out of Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office. Houston has prior arrests through Shreveport Police Department for narcotics related offenses and resisting an officer.

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