A deadly holiday weekend on the highways
Five people died on state highways over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
Three of the victims died in a crash investigated by the Batesville Troop E, a coverage area that includes DeSoto County.
In the weekend that started Wednesday morning, Nov. 24 and ended at 12 midnight on Sunday, Nov. 28. Troop E handled 31 collisions, which included three alcohol-related collisions. Of the three fatalities, MHP reported that two were not wearing seat belts. There were 12 injuries in all of the collisions in addition to the three fatalities.
The deadly crash took place on U.S. Highway 278 in Lafayette County shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving evening Thursday.
The victims were identified by MHP as Halie K. Tanner, age 23 of Thaxton; Jacquette M. Davis, age 52 of West Point; and Komoto S. Davis, age 48 and also of West Point.
A Volkswagen driven by Tanner collided with a Nissan Versa driven by Jacquette Davis with Komoto Davis as a passenger.
All three received fatal injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene. According to MHP, the Davis vehicle was traveling westbound in the eastbound lane of the highway with Tanner’s vehicle heading eastbound.
Two other people died in separate accidents in Smith and Grenada counties, during the holiday weekend.
Seventy-six-year old Danny Traxler of Pulaski died in a one-vehicle accident on State Highway 481 in Smith County on Saturday morning about 2 a.m.
Late Sunday evening about 11:30 p.m., Kadarrius Fox, age 30 of Grenada, died when the car he was driving southbound on I-55 near Grenada struck a guardrail and overturned. Three passengers in the vehicle were hurt and taken to hospital for treatment.
All three accidents remained under investigation with the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
In the Troop E area, there were 107 seat belt and child restraint citations issued during the weekend, 31 DUI’s, and 16 motorist assist checks.
Statewide, weekend figures were much above 2020 with 9,845 citations this year compared to 5,470 last year. However, there were fewer crashes this year (195) compared to last year (246), and fewer fatalities (5), in comparison to last year (6).
