News Station Trespassing at Crawfish Pond, but There’s More

Yesterday, a video went viral as a man standing by a crawfish pond began videoing a reporter, cameraman, and van owned by KLFY. During his video, the man began demanding the crew leave the property because they were trespassing on the land. The video shows the reporter with her head down and the cameraman attempting to contact someone back at the new station for help.

The man behind the camera begins to go throw a fit about how they are reporting fake news of his pond having the coronavirus. He then talks to a Douson sheriff's deputy and tells him he has no jurisdiction in the area and he can leave. The deputy was sent out to try and help as a favor to the actual owner of the land. Well, he said it way more colorfully than that, but you get the idea. After the video was posted, it began to get shared left and right. People began to troll KLFY's Facebook page, asking about the situation and why they haven't addressed what had happened.

Our sister station in Lafayette, KPEL 96.5, began to dig around a bit and learned there was way more to this story than perceived in a minute-and-a-half Facebook video. According to KPEL, the reporter and cameraman were unable to leave in their van because "Tee" Guidry had taken the keys and one of their cell phones. This meant that they could not drive away as they were being told to do during the video.

Guidry, as it turns out, is not the landowner. KPEL was able to speak to the actual landowner, wanting to remain unnamed, and verified Guidry is a sharecropper on the land that was being trespassed upon by the news team, located near the 1300 block of Austria Road. Lt. John Mowell of the LPSO was on the scene and told Guidry he would be handcuffed and placed in a car while they began to figure out the situation.

At the end of the confrontation, both the news anchor and cameraman were given misdemeanor summons for criminal trespassing and Guidry was given misdemeanor summons for theft.

When I first saw the video, I was shocked at all of the parties involved. I am glad more of the story has come to the surface that provides a better understanding of exactly what happened. Thanks to KPEL for working hard to get to the bottom of the whole story.