A pedestrian died in Wilkinson County Friday and a Bogue Chitto man was killed on Interstate 55 Sunday as southwest Mississippi led the state with fatalities over the extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Dondi D. Dixon, 31, of Woodville, was walking in the northbound lane of Highway 61 when he was struck by an 18-wheeler at 4:21 a.m. Friday, Mississippi Highway Patrol officials reported. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
State troopers said Jerry L. Cooper, 78, of Pine Grove, La., was driving the northbound 2012 Peterbilt truck that reportedly struck Dixon. No charges have been filed.
In the other fatality, James Hutson, 91, of Bogue Chitto, died in a wreck that occurred when a tire on his 2004 Ford F-250 blew around 1 p.m. Sunday, according to Mississippi Highway Patrol Public Affairs Officer Cpl. Brandon Fortenberry.
Fortenberry said Hutson was in the right southbound lane of I-55 near the Bogue Chitto exit when the tread came off of a left tire, sending the vehicle into the left lane.
Fortenberry said Hutson apparently tried to overcorrect, went back into the right lane, veered off the right side of the highway and overturned several times.
The pickup came to rest upside down in a culvert facing east.
Fortenberry said it’s unknown if Hutson was wearing a seatbelt.
Those were among at least five fatalities worked by troopers statewide from Wednesday evening through Sunday night.
The MHP’s Brookhaven-based Troop M wrote 282 tickets for moving violations, another 101 for “non-hazard” incidents, made eight DUI arrests and one drug arrest.
Troopers also wrote 24 seatbelt violations and two child restraint violations and worked 11 collisions.
