MARRERO, La. - Fresh tracks in the dirt was all that remained, under the Westbank Expressway, of a make-shift homeless encampment here on Jan. 15. Two people were inside a tarp-covered palleted site attempting to escape the cold. On Jan. 14, heavy machinery destroyed it with the duo inside. The woman, 25-year-old Ayla Toups, suffered facial injuries, and surgery, after Jefferson Parish's Parkways Department Bobcats destroyed the site. Jefferson Parish routinely destroys makeshift shelters, "but not while people are still in them," said Jacob Watson, the other inhabitant. The Parkways Department was responding to a complaint about a homeless encampment. The parish is investigating the incident. Parkways' employees were "pretty shaken up by the incident," according to a parish spokesperson. What happened Friday is part of a bigger problem, Watson told WWL, and that's the lack of services for people who need them. “No one cares about these homeless people,” said Marie-Chapman, Toups' mother. “They keep saying that camping ... is illegal" in public areas, "but I don’t know the true definition of camping, but we’re not camping, we’re living,” said Watson. Toups was expected to be released from the hospital on Jan. 15. (Source: WWL 01/15/22) JP crews destroy encampment, hurt woman sleeping inside | wwltv.com
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