A Smithdale woman died and her two sons were seriously injured in a one-car accident Saturday morning in Amite County in one of several serious accidents that occurred in the area this weekend.
Angela Jones, 34, 4734B Price Lane, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred about 10:28 on Thompson Road. The accident remains under investigation, Amite County Sheriff Tim Perkins said.
According to sheriff’s deputies, Jones was eastbound on Thompson Road when the car left the road and struck a cypress tree.
Jones’ 3-year-old son, Omarion Jones, who was sitting in the front seat, was partially ejected from the car, while her other son, Oriane Jones, 11, who was sitting in the back seat, was found under the rear seat.
Both boys were taken to Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center and later transferred to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where they were in critical condition, Perkins said.
The accident was one of several major wrecks in Pike and Amite counties that occurred between 5 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.
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Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper Timothy Fuller was injured Friday when his patrol car was rear-ended by Garry W. Hodgens, 52, of McComb, Highway Patrol officials said.
The accident occurred at 7:33 Friday night on Highway 24 under the Interstate 55 overpass in south McComb.
Patrol spokesman Sgt. Rusty Boyd said Fuller was preparing to get on northbound I-55 at the cloverleaf intersection at Highway 24 when he was hit from behind by Hodgens, who was exiting from the southbound cloverleaf of I-55 on to Highway 24.
Boyd said Fuller, from Wilkinson County, was working a detail in the McComb area. He said both men were taken to Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, where they were treated and released.
Hodgens was charged with DUI and was later released on $900 bond. The accident remains under investigation.
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About five hours later, as troopers were working a license checkpoint on Highway 24 near the B-Line BP convenience store, they saw a car get off I-55, turn around and get back on the Interstate in an alleged effort to avoid the checkpoint.
Boyd said the car drove north on I-55 to the Delaware Avenue exit at a high rate of speed.
The driver was reportedly going too fast to handle the exit, crossed Delaware Avenue and went into the parking lot of the National Inn hotel, where the car hit several parked cars.
He said Douglas W. Medine, 26, of McComb, the driver of the car, was charged with DUI, driving with a suspended license and other traffic violations. He was later released on $7,110 bond.
Jed Easley, 25, of Magnolia, a passenger in the car, was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was later released on $1,050 bond.
About an hour earlier, at 11:45 p.m., Pike County sheriff’s deputies were called to a reported hit-and-run accident on Magee Road north of the Robb Street Extension in Summit in which a man was injured.
The victim’s name and further details on the accident were unavailable at presstime. The accident is under investigation.
