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FERRIDAY, La. — A Ferriday man charged by Louisiana State Police with vehicular homicide following a fatal three-vehicle collision on Monday evening has other charges pending from a 2017 drive-by shooting.

The crash reportedly happened as Ben Ceasor, 29, of Ferriday, was fleeing from a Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy during a traffic stop.

Ceasor was arrested Tuesday after the accident that killed 43-year-old Jason Tyson, the third-generation owner of the popular Donut Shop in Natchez. The driver and a juvenile passenger of the third vehicle involved sustained moderate injuries and were transported to a local hospital, according to a release from Louisiana State Police.

News reports said Ceasor suffered a broken leg in the accident and ran 100 yards from the incident before being apprehended. Past charges show this is not his first alleged attempt to resist being arrested.

After his initial arrest in April 2017, The Natchez Democrat reported CPSO had charged Ceasor with two counts of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated criminal damage to property, illegal possession of a stolen firearm and three counts of resisting an officer.

Clayton Police Chief Bobby Madison said Ceasor allegedly shot into an occupied residence on Loomis Lane from a vehicle occupied by two other people.

Ceasor’s attempted second-degree murder charges were reduced to two counts of aggravated assault by drive-by shooting, and no bill had been filed on resisting an officer charges, court records show.

Court minutes from October 25, 2017, show that a jury trial was scheduled for Jan. 22, 2018, in Concordia Parish Seventh Judicial District Division B Judge John Reeves’ court. However, no record of that trial happening exists. The minutes also show that Ceasor was offered three years in the Department of Corrections in exchange for a guilty plea. However, no plea was made. 

District Attorney Brad Burget’s office was not immediately able to comment on what happened to the 2017 charges.

Also in July and August 2017, Ceasor pleaded guilty to simple burglary and had been sentenced by Reeves to serve five years hard labor with credit for any time served.

Ceasor was arrested again in December 2023 by CPSO on charges of domestic abuse battery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Court proceedings on those charges were continued to May 25, 2024.

After the Monday crash, Ceasor was charged by LSP with aggravated flight from an officer (two counts), felony hit and run (two counts), vehicular homicide, vehicular negligent injury (two counts), resisting an officer by providing false information, stop sign violation and felon in possession of a firearm. 

Moments before the Monday crash, Tensas Parish Sheriff’s Office issued a BOLO (be on the lookout) for Ceasor with a warrant for aggravated assault with a firearm. Louisiana State Police Troop E spokesperson Casey Wallace said a CPSO deputy recognized the vehicle and conducted a stop. Ceasor reportedly fled after he’d been stopped by the deputy at EE Wallace Boulevard and Texas Avenue, ran through a stop sign on U.S. 425 and collided head-on with a 2017 Ford F250 and a 2020 Ford F150 less than a block from the initial traffic stop. 

“It really wasn’t a pursuit,” Wallace said of the traffic stop and subsequent crash. “It was 100 foot or not even that far. He was still within seeing distance from where CPSO stopped him when he crashed.”

This incident remains under investigation, he said.