Former HHS student killed after being struck by car

Family remembers teen as spontaneous, loving and cheerful

The pedestrian killed in a Jan. 13 automobile accident in Boutte has been identified as former HHS student Dylon Cooper of Paradis, State Police spokeswoman Melissa Matey confirmed.

Cooper, 19, was struck in an incident that occurred at about 10:30 p.m. on U.S. Highway 90 west near Tiger Dr. last Wednesday.

Cooper’s stepmother, Kadrina Tappan, said the teen was a joy to be around.

“He was spontaneous, loving and cheerful,” Tappan said. “He had millions of friends and they all loved him.”Tappan said Cooper had been missing five days before the family learned of his death.

“He walked everywhere,” she said.

It’s an even more trying time for the family given that Tappan’s oldest son is currently in Kansas stationed at Fort Riley, about to be deployed to Kuwait on Friday.

“We’re just hanging in there, together,” Tappan said of she and her family. “It’s a very difficult time for all of us.”Cooper’s sister, Callie Laux, called her brother “someone nobody would ever forget.”

“He always made others that were having a bad day smile, even if they didn’t want to,” Laux said. “He was very caring and sweet, not a mean bone in his body.”

Laux said Cooper not only had a great sense of humor at his disposal to make others grin, but that his own smile was infectious.

“That alone could brighten someone’s day,” Laux said.  “He’d tell my dad he wanted to grow up and be just like him. When he grew up, Dylon just wanted to be loved and in love.”

According to a Louisiana State Police preliminary investigation, 19-year-old Chelsey Guidroz of Houma was driving a 2000 Chevrolet pickup truck west on U.S. 90 in the right lane approaching Tiger Drive when the vehicle she was driving struck a then-unidentified pedestrian, who was wearing dark clothing and walking west in the right lane of the highway.

According to Matey, Guidroz saw Cooper and took evasive action, but was unable to avoid hitting him and Cooper died at the scene.

Matey said speed and impairment are not considered factors in the incident. Guidroz voluntarily submitted to a breath test and no detectable alcohol was found.