Tragedy for the St Tammany Sheriff’s Office this weekend.
Sheriff Randy Smith identified the sergeant killed in the line of duty early Sunday morning as Sgt. Grant Candies.
Sgt. Candies started his career with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office in March 2016, and prior to joining the Sheriff’s Office, he served in the United States Marine Corps. In 2023, prior to his promotion to sergeant, Deputy Candies was responsible for saving the lives of two individuals and was named the 2023 STPSO Deputy of the Year. He was also a Field Training Officer helping to train new deputies on his patrol shift.
Sgt. Candies, 37, was married with two children.
Sheriff Smith said he was the kind of deputy every agency hopes to have and someone his teammates routinely reached out to for advice and direction due to his vast knowledge of this job.
Shortly after midnight Sunday morning, Sgt. Candies was assisting with a pursuit by deploying a spike strip on Interstate 10 near the Oak Harbor Exit when he was struck by the perpetrator’s vehicle and killed. The pursuit began on Brownswitch Road, when a STPSO deputy attempted to initiate a traffic stop on a vehicle and the driver fled at high rate of speed, refusing to stop. The pursuit ended when the perpetrator’s vehicle crashed into an NOPD unit on the Southshore. The vehicle was occupied by five individuals. The driver, Adrian Waughtal, (DOB 10-4-07) of Slidell, was arrested and booked Sunday morning in Orleans Parish as a fugitive and was transported to St. Tammany Parish, where he was booked for Aggravated Flight, First Degree Murder and Attempted First Degree Murder.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing, detectives are still conducting interviews and more arrests and additional charges are possible.
