Two injured in Interstate 10 collision

A Harvey woman and a man from Pass Christian, Miss., were moderately injured Tuesday afternoon when the woman’s vehicle crossed the median on Interstate 10 near the Old Spanish Trail exit and slammed head on into the man’s car.

According to Louisiana State Police Troop L spokesman, Trooper Louis Calato, Shannon Cheatteam, 46, was driving west in her 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe around 4:30 p.m. on I-10, when for an unknown reason, she went off into the median and entered the east-bound lane slamming into a 2005 Chevrolet Impala driven by Carl Fletrich, 61. The Tahoe rolled over and ended up resting on its roof.

“I felt the concussion of the wreck in my office,” said Todd Perkins, who owns Harvest Homes, on the I-10 Service Road, and witnessed the accident. “There was a lot of energy in that crash. It blew out all the windows in the SUV.”

Perkins said that if Cheatteam had not hit Fletrich’s car, her vehicle would have ended up in the parking lot of his business.

Perkins said he hopped the fence to see if he could help out the crash victims. At first he thought Cheatteam was dead when he opened the door to the Tahoe.

“It didn’t look good to me,” Perkins said. “The other guy came to, and it looked like he would make it.”

Calato said it was amazing that neither driver suffered more than moderate injuries. Cheatteam was taken to University Hospital in New Orleans for treatment, while Fletrich was transported to Slidell Memorial Hospital.

Considering it was the start of afternoon rush hour traffic, Calato said the two drivers were lucky.

“I’m surprised that there were not more cars involved in the accident,” Calato said. The accident did tie up eastbound traffic on I-10 for about an hour.