The Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office formally filed charges against the man accused of drunkenly crashing into several vehicles on a Gretna street and killing the grandparents of a man who had died weeks earlier in the Bourbon Street attack.
Stephan Juarez, 34, of Baton Rouge, pleaded not guilty April 15 to two counts of vehicular homicide, Jefferson Parish court records said.
He is accused in the deaths of Hubert Gauthreaux Jr., 75, and Gauthreaux's wife, Victoria Gauthreaux, 72.
Friends and family say that when the couple died on the night of Feb. 15, they were still mourning the loss of their grandson, 21-year-old Hubert Gauthreaux III.
The younger Gauthreaux was one of the 14 victims killed when a man intentionally drove a truck through the crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans' French Quarter on Jan. 1 in a suspected act of terrorism.
The elder Gauthreauxs were with their daughter on the evening of Feb. 15 and had just parked on Fourth Street in Gretna when Juarez came hurtling toward them at about 50-70 mph, according to Gretna police.
Juarez, driving a pickup truck eastbound, ran stop signs at the intersection with Huey P. Long Avenue before crashing into a GMC Yukon and injuring two of the three people inside, authorities said.
The first hit dislodged a tire on Juarez's truck. He then crossed the centerline on Fourth Street and smashed into an empty Honda Pilot that was parked on the side of the road, Gretna police said.
Juarez then slammed head-on into the Gauthreaux's parked Volvo XC9. Hubert Gauthreaux Jr. was standing outside when the vehicle was hit. Victoria Gauthreaux was sitting inside the car. Both suffered fatal injuries, authorities said.
Their daughter was not injured.
The truck finally halted in a nearby parking lot. Officers found Juarez facedown on the floorboard of the passenger side, injured by suspected impact with his windshield, authorities said.
Officers said Juarez smelled of alcohol, had trouble standing and blood-shot eyes. His blood alcohol content was 0.09%, just over the 0.08%-legal limit, authorities said.
Blood tests were conducted to determine whether Juarez had ingested any other substances, but they results have not been released.
Juarez was being held without bail Friday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna.