Woman arraigned in death of JPSO motorcycle deputy during funeral procession 6%

By Matt Bruce36%

7/23/2026, 9:00:00 AM

Keywords: Hardwall

BS Summary: This article contains 6 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Negativity Bias, and Self-Serving Bias, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 20.7% saturation with 57 hits. Analysis detected 153 faulty-reasoning hits from 275 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 22.3% and a BS Rank of 6% (19,974 of 21,230 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 94.10% of the article peer group.

A New Orleans woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to an indictment charging her with vehicular homicide over the death of Jefferson Parish motorcycle deputy Christopher Paul Ohlmeyer in January. 
An Orleans Parish grand jury returned the indictment July 2 against Erica Smith-Katsanis, 53. 
She faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the felony charge. 
NOPD officials said Ohlmeyer, a 14-year JPSO veteran, was working an off-duty detail leading a funeral procession through the Hollygrove corridor on Jan. 30 when Smith-Katsanis slammed her 2022 Lexus sedan into the rear of his motorcycle shortly before noon in the 9200 block of Airline Highway. 
Investigators said she never hit the brakes before impact that launched the deputy from his motorcycle. 
He died at an area hospital. 
NOPD booked Smith-Katsanis Feb. 25 on suspicion of vehicular homicide. 
A magistrate commissioner set her bond at $200,000 and barred her from driving. 
Smith-Katsanis remained free for her arraignment Wednesday, when her defense attorney, Brian Capitell, filed several pre-trial motions, including petitions to suppress evidence. 
Criminal District Judge Kimya Holmes set an Aug. 19 hearing date. 
According to the police affidavit, Smith-Katsanis said she didn't see anything in front of her prior to the impact and was "unsure of what she had hit." 
Detectives said she showed signs of impairment during an interview at the hospital, where she was treated after being struck in the face with airbags. 
Toxicology results show she tested positive for 11 prescription medications, including amphetamine and clonazepam. 
Capitelli said in court in February that all of the medications in her system were prescribed. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 6.3%nola.com: 2.4%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.6%nola.com: 1.1%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 2.6%nola.com: 2.6%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 5.1%Matt Bruce: 0.2%nola.com: 0.8%Representativeness Heuristic5.1%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.4%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 1.5%nola.com: 1.1%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 2.2%nola.com: 4.5%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.7%nola.com: 0.8%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 1.7%nola.com: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.3%nola.com: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 1.9%nola.com: 3.8%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.9%nola.com: 1.8%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 9.1%Matt Bruce: 5.1%nola.com: 3.5%Negativity Bias9.1%This article: 5.8%Matt Bruce: 3.1%nola.com: 1.9%Self-Serving Bias5.8%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.4%nola.com: 0.3%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.0%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.3%nola.com: 2.7%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 1.5%nola.com: 1.2%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.1%nola.com: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.3%nola.com: 0.1%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.1%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 3.2%nola.com: 3.3%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.9%nola.com: 1.1%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.4%nola.com: 0.6%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.2%nola.com: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 2.8%nola.com: 2.4%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.1%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.6%nola.com: 0.3%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 3.5%nola.com: 3.4%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.2%nola.com: 0.3%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 1.6%nola.com: 1.7%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 1.6%nola.com: 0.6%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.3%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 1.8%nola.com: 2.0%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 5.1%Matt Bruce: 1.4%nola.com: 1.4%Ambiguity (Equivocation)5.1%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.0%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.2%nola.com: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 9.8%Matt Bruce: 2.4%nola.com: 2.1%Unattributed Quote9.8%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.3%nola.com: 0.7%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 20.7%Matt Bruce: 1.0%nola.com: 2.4%Biased Writer Voice20.7%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.2%nola.com: 0.3%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.7%nola.com: 0.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 0.0%nola.com: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Bruce: 1.4%nola.com: 1.8%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

275 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers27%attributed speech201writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageNOPD • 47 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverageKimya Holmes • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageBrian Capitell • 16 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Brian Capitell

100%flagged-word coverage
16 attributed words22% of attributed speech41% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice+79.6 ptsWriter: 20.4%Brian Capitell: 100.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote-13.4 ptsWriter: 13.4%Brian Capitell: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.