Booneville Man And Granddaughter Die In Saturday Wreck

NATCHEZ TRACE PRESS RELEASE

ATTALA COUNTY, MS – On March 25, 2017, at approximately 12:32 p.m., the Natchez Trace Parkway Communications Center received notification of a single motor vehicle collision near Kosciusko, MS (milepost 152).  U.S. Park Rangers, Attala and Leake County Sheriff’s Deputies, Thomas Town Volunteer Fire Department, and the Attala County Medical Examiner responded to the scene.

The vehicle, a 2010 Ford F150, was operated by Johnie P. Nichols, age 73, of Booneville, MS.    Preliminary information indicates that Nichols, along with his son Allen Nichols, daughter-in-law Kayla Nichols, and their 3 ½ year-old daughter were traveling southbound on the Parkway when the vehicle crossed the center line and struck a bridge abutment. The vehicle then went down the embankment and landed upside down in a creek. The creek was full due to the recent rainstorms, and the vehicle was almost completely submerged.  J. Nichols and the 3 ½ year-old were unable to escape the overturned vehicle and likely drowned.