Slidell police arrest felon
for faking drive-by shooting

By Erik Sanzenbach
St. Tammany News
Published on Sunday, December 13, 2009 12:25 AM CST

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Slidell police arrested a Mississippi man Dec. 9, after he tried to convince detectives that he had been wounded in a drive-by shooting when he allegedly shot himself in the leg by accident.

Derrion Pittman, 21, of Picayune, Miss., was charged with criminal mischief, false reporting of a crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Slidell police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz said police were called to the emergency room at Northshore Regional Medical Center Dec. 9 about a man with a gunshot wound to his thigh.

PITTMAN

Pittman told police that he had been a victim of a drive-by shooting. He said he was visiting a family member on Walnut Street in Slidell. Pittman claimed that while he was standing outside the house, a white Ford Expedition drove by and fired three to four shots at him then drove away. He claimed one of the bullets hit him in the leg.

However, a detective looked at the wound and noticed that the entry and exit wounds did not match up with Pittman’s story. The detective read Pittman his Miranda rights and after some questioning, Pittman admitted that he had made the story up about the drive-by shooting. He said that he was a convicted felon and after he shot himself in the leg by accident when he tried to take the weapon out of his pocket, he concocted the drive-by story so he would not be arrested for having a gun.

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Comments

2 comment(s)

r.side wrote on Dec 14, 2009 11:14 AM:

" I hope this does not effect his dreams of becoming a rocket scientist! "

Steve S wrote on Dec 14, 2009 7:48 AM:

" He looks about as sharp as a mashed potato sandwich. "

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