A Louisiana sheriff’s deputy was fatally struck by a fleeing vehicle as he put a spike strip down on a highway during a pursuit early Sunday near New Orleans, authorities said.

Sgt. Grant Candies was deploying the device used to disable vehicles in the Slidell area when he was struck and killed on Interstate 10, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The pursuit began when a deputy tried to stop a vehicle and the driver fled at high speed, the sheriff’s office said. The pursuit ended when the fleeing vehicle with five people inside crashed into a New Orleans Police officer’s vehicle in the east part of the city, the statement added.

The police officer was injured as he entered the interstate to join the pursuit, police said in a statement. It said the officer and the occupants of the fleeing vehicle were taken to the hospital. The officer has been released and the others were in stable condition, police said.

Officials said the 17-year-old driver of the fleeing vehicle was booked Sunday morning as a fugitive in New Orleans and then transferred to nearby St. Tammany Parish, where he was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated flight, the sheriff’s office said. Additional arrests or charges are possible, officials said.

Candies, 37, was married with two children and started his career with the sheriff’s office in 2016, the sheriff’s office said. In 2023, he was responsible for saving the lives of two people and was named the deputy of the year. He also served as a field training officer, helping to train new deputies on his patrol shift.

“Sgt Candies was an asset to the department,” Sheriff Randy Smith said in a statement. “He was the kind of deputy every agency hopes to have and someone his teammates routinely reached out to for advice and direction … His path to law enforcement was one of fate and devotion to his family, to his community and to a calling greater than himself.”