Hit and Run Investigations

NOXUBEE COUNTY and NORTH MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – We’ve seen a number of hit and run investigations over the past several months in the area.

Some incidents involved a person being hit or another vehicle being damaged.

These crashes happen for different reasons and different investigative tools are used to solve them.

Law enforcement have reported hit and run accidents in Lowndes and Oktibbeha Counties, and most recently, in Noxubee County.

We’ve shown you how investigators use paint chip comparisons to solve the crimes, but there are other techniques to determine how the crashes happened.

Most hit and run victims generally have one question,why?

Law enforcement say many things can happen once a person gets behind the wheel.

“It can be by DUI, and of course, now, they want to flee the scene. It could be that they are texting, or it could be that they are talking on the phone, or it could just be that they are not paying any attention, in which some people don’t. They don’t move over,” says Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree.

Mississippi Highway Patrolman Master Sgt. Ray Hall says there are investigative resources law enforcement use and it starts where the crash happened.

“If there is no reaction to some kind of action, then obviously, that driver was distracted. If there is no break marks and there is a vehicle stopped in front of you and you just, and someone just rear-ended, whether it’s a stopped school bus, we see that a lot, farm equipment, we see that a lot, people not paying attention.”

Once troopers leave the scene, there are other ways to find out where the driver started their trip.

“If you’ve got an impaired driver that maybe left a local restaurant or something, and you’ve got video footage of them being impaired and we can put them behind the wheel, and then connect that car to the crash. There’s a lot of different ways. A ton of different investigating techniques that troopers and other law enforcement use to put those pieces back together,” says Hall.

Cell phone records and social media also help.

However, law enforcement also depend on vehicle experts and witnesses to find the driver.

Once caught, they could be charged with some pretty serious crimes.

“It is very important that if you think you hit somebody, check. Call the law. At that point, you won’t be guilty of an accident, not unless you’re drunk, or texting, or doing something like that, but other than that, you’re still in better shape, than if you hit him and then you run because you definitely have got a charge after that,” says Grassaree.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol has an accident reconstruction team to work these types of cases.

Other agencies can request their help in an investigation.

Categories: Local News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *