Three fatalities were reported over the last two weeks in three separate automobile crashes.
The first accident occurred on Sept. 13 at 4:45 p.m. on I-55 South, just north of the Vaughan exit, according to Yazoo County Coroner Ricky Shivers.
Shawanda Jenkins, 45, of Slidell, La., was pronounced dead on the scene after first responders arrived at the one-vehicle accident.
“The car left the highway, running into the tree line,” Shivers said. “The car uprooted a tree upon collision, and then wrapped entirely around another tree.”
Shivers added that it took two sets of hydraulic rescue tools, also known as the Jaws of Life, from the Benton and Vaughan Volunteer Fire Departments to remove the victim from the crash. Jenkins was pronounced dead on the scene from multi-system trauma, Shivers said.
The second accident occurred on Sept. 14 at 10:20 p.m. on Highway 51 in the Pickens area near Gas Plant Road.
Trinty Jackson, 4, was pronounced dead on the scene.
“The four-year-old was in a car seat while her mother was driving in the southbound lane of Highway 51,” Shivers said. “Her vehicle was struck head-on by a northbound vehicle, flipping her car into a ravine near the edge of a bridge.”
Shivers said the mother and another 2-year-old sibling were both taken to Jackson hospitals for their injuries. But the four-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
The third accident occurred on Sept. 20 at about 8 a.m. near the intersection of Highway 3 and Highway 433.
Gary Boutwell, 68, of Satartia, was pronounced dead on the scene.
“It appears as if he pulled out in front of a southbound 18-wheeler that was hauling fertilizer,” Shivers said. “The driver’s side of his vehicle was crushed in from the T-bone impact. The 18-wheeler completely rolled over, but the driver was not injured.”
Shivers said that all three accidents are being investigated by the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
