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Wreck kills 19-year-old Tupelo man
It was Lee County's second death reported over the Memorial Day weekend.
By Ginny Miller
Daily Journal
TUPELO - A 19-year-old man was killed in a wreck near Mooreville this weekend when his car was hit by a vehicle that hydroplaned.
Lee County Coroner Carolyn Gillentine identified the victim as Lorenzo Vargas Jusco of Tupelo, who died Sunday.
"The wreck happened about 7:30 p.m.," Gillentine said. "He was a restrained driver of a car that was hit by another vehicle that hydroplaned in to him."
Three others were reportedly injured in the wreck, which occurred on County Road 931 and is under investigation by the Lee County Sheriff's Department.
Jusco's death was the second fatality over the Memorial Day weekend.
On Monday, Sheriff Jim Johnson released the name of a man arrested in the death of a woman on Saturday.
Gary D. Smith, 20, was "in custody and charged with DUI death," Johnson said.
The one-vehicle wreck claimed the life of 43-year-old Carol Ross, who was killed when the car she was in ran off the road and flipped several times on Country Road 2342 around 10 a.m. Smith had been in the car, Johnson said, and fled the scene on foot before his capture.
In terms of other accidents and arrests, officials reported a quiet Memorial Day weekend.
"We haven't had much," a shift captain with the Tupelo Police Department said. He noted roadblocks might be set up, depending on the weather.
H.L. Kitchens, a staff sergeant with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol's Troop F, reported five collisions over the holiday weekend, which began at 6 p.m. Friday.
One of the collisions involved alcohol, with troopers issuing 13 DUIs and making four drug arrests.