Fleeing traffic stop has consequences for local man

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, January 26, 2010

NATCHEZ — A routine traffic stop Friday night ended with a one-vehicle car accident that sent one Natchez man to the hospital.

Barry Dewayne Wilson, 42, 7 Grant St., suffered non-life-threatening injuries when the vehicle he was driving landed in a ditch on River Terminal Road in Adams County.

Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said an Adams County sheriff’s deputy attempted to make a traffic stop on Wilson at the corner of Highland Boulevard and U.S. 61 South after noticing the car Wilson was driving had just one headlight.

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Mayfield said Wilson stopped and attempted to exit the vehicle while the deputy called in license plate information.

“The deputy told (Wilson) to go back to his car, and that he would come (to Wilson’s car),” Mayfield said. “When (Wilson) got back in the car he took off at a high rate of speed down Highland Boulevard.”

Mayfield said the deputy followed the car “at a safe distance” and attempted a second traffic stop when Wilson ran the stop sign at Highland Boulevard and Lower Woodville Road.

“(The deputy) turned his blue lights on and continued to follow him,” Mayfield said. “He was following him and said he saw his taillights disappear.”

The Natchez Fire Department extricated Wilson from the car using the Jaws of Life, and he was taken to Natchez Community Hospital with injuries to his lower extremities.

Mayfield said a blood sample had been collected and sent for testing.

Wilson has been cited for failure to yield to a law enforcement officer, reckless driving and improper equipment, Mayfield said.