Natchez man arrested for choking incident

Published 12:20 am Wednesday, July 27, 2016

NATCHEZ — A Natchez man who spent years in prison for a 2003 shooting, but was released early, was arrested this week on allegations he choked a man until the victim passed out.

Reports at the Adams County Sheriff’s Office show deputies responded to Merit Health Natchez in reference to a call of an aggravated assault early Sunday morning.

The alleged victim told deputies that he had been at a pool party on Morgantown Road where everybody was drinking and joking around.

Email newsletter signup

“(The victim) stated that Jimmy Pruitt III was also joking with everybody and boasting about how he just got out of prison for killing someone,” the report said. “The victim stated that everyone else was afraid to joke with Jimmy but him. (The victim) stated that he was the only one who would say something back to Jimmy and he thinks Jimmy did not like that.”

The victim got out of the pool and started talking to other people, and the report says that he felt someone come up behind him and place him in a chokehold until he became unconscious.

“(The victim) stated the next thing he remembered was that he was waking up on the ground covered in blood,” the report said. “(The victim) stated that Jimmy had choked him until he was unconscious and had let him fall on the concrete, leaving a large gash in his forehead.”

The report said that the victim told investigators that Pruitt later asked him to punch him to get back at him for the choking.

The victim’s friend later took him to the hospital.

The report said Pruitt was later located in a nearby shed with an injury to his head. He told investigators he remembers going into the shed but does not remember what happened after that.

Pruitt was sentenced to 15 years in prison in September 2004 after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2003 shooting death of Christopher Bourdin, 21.

Pruitt, then 19, was allegedly playing with a loaded gun at the time, pointing it at himself and others and pulling the trigger. The weapon discharged when he pointed it Bourdin, the bullet striking the victim in the head and killing him.

Pruitt was sentenced to 15 years for the shooting, but eight years were suspended and he was released on probation.

He was returned to prison in 2010 after violating the terms of his probation.

Pruitt was released from prison on early release in September 2015.

Since his arrest, he has been transferred back to Mississippi Department of Corrections custody.