TCHULA — Tchula Police Chief Anthony Jones and two other people were killed Friday evening in a fiery four-vehicle accident just outside town.
Holmes County Sheriff Willie March and the Mississippi Highway Patrol confirmed Saturday that Jones was one of three people killed in the accident around 6:30 p.m. on U.S. 49 South near the Mileston community.
Jones was traveling south on the highway in a Ford F-150 pickup with an unidentified passenger, possibly an employee of the city of Tchula, March said.
According to Trooper Tony Dunn, public affairs officer for Troop D, the pickup veered to avoid another vehicle, a 2001 Buick LeSabre driven by Anthony Stewart, 22, of Tchula, that was attempting to make a left turn in the southbound lane.
The driver of the pickup truck, in attempting to avoid the LeSabre, sideswiped a 2006 Buick UXL driven by Carl Little, 48, of Yazoo City. The pickup then collided head-on with a 2010 Mercury Marquis driven by Christopher Lockhart of Yazoo. The truck burst into flames, Dunn said.
Closely following that, the northbound vehicle was struck from behind.
Jones and his as-yet-unidentified passenger and a passenger in the Buick, Alexis Little, 23, of Yazoo City, were pronounced dead at the scene by Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard.
Carl Little and three of his other passengers, Alisa Little, 22, Nelo Johnson, 41 and Cheryl Haymer, whose age is not available — all from Yazoo City — were not injured.
Lockhart was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center with moderate to severe injuries, March said.
Howard said the passenger in the pickup was burned beyond recognition.
The bodies of Jones and his unidentified passenger have been taken to the state Crime Lab in Jackson for positive identification, Dunn said.
He said alcohol was not a factor in the accident. The MHP and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation Accident Investigation Team are still investigating, Dunn said.
March said Jones served with the North Central Narcotics Task Force for about seven years.
When the Task Force’s funding dried up a few years back, Jones got a job as a patrolman with the Tchula Police Department under Chief Sharkey Ford, the sheriff said.
Several years after Ford became mayor of the town, he appointed Jones as chief, March said.
“He was a good officer. He had a long history in law enforcement,” March said.
