UPDDATE: Lafayette Police Officer Brian Rozas has been released from the hospital and returned home on Thursday, September 15,2022.
Rozas was cheered on by fellow officers, hospital staff and members of the community as he departed Lafayette General Hospital taking the next steps in his recovery.
Rozas has been hospitalized since mid- August when he was working downtown and dragged about 100 feet when police say a suspect backed into him after refusing to stop.
When KATC crew checked for an update the morning of Rozas' release, the suspect accused of hitting Rozas, Jaylin Chavis, was still in custody. However, upon checking tis afternoon, Chavis was no longer listed on the jails roster.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Officials say Officer Brian Rozas is continuing his journey to recovery and is no longer considered in critical condition.
At this time, Rozas remains hospitalized and is in good spirits.
The Police Association of Lafayette also set up a GoFundMe for the officer injured Downtown in August.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"While working an off duty detail a Lafayette police Officer became involved with a situation where the suspect was attempting to flee from police officers. While fleeing the driver put the vehicle in reverse and ran over the Officer, dragging him for about 100 feet causing significant injuries to the Officer," the fundraiser page states. "This Officer has been with Lafayette Police for approximately 2 years and routinely works extra details on his off days as a second income, which he will be unable to do so for some time. This fundraiser is being organized by The Police Association of Lafayette, which this officer is a member of, and all funds collected will go directly to him."
The GoFundMe has been posted on the union's Facebook page and more than $20,000 had been raised.
Although he's only been with Lafayette Police for about two years, this is not Rozas' first job in law enforcement. He also served as a Eunice Police Officer and as a St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Deputy. And, as a young man, Rozas was an Eagle Scout.
The family of Brian Rozas has approved the release of his name and photograph, and they are asking that the community continue to pray for his recovery.
Rozas was critically injured in August during an incident on Jefferson Street. The man accused of driving the car that dragged Rozas has been arrested. To read about that, click here.
A spokesperson for the Lafayette Police Department said Rozas' family would like to thank the community for their overwhelming support.
