Second vehicle chase crosses Vidalia to Natchez bridge, hot on the heels of the first

Published 6:30 pm Thursday, March 17, 2022

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NATCHEZ — Area law enforcement engaged in a second vehicle chase within hours of another that crossed the Mississippi River bridge into Natchez on Thursday afternoon.

Officers said the chase reached speeds over 100 miles per hour and both Louisiana and Mississippi officers pursued.

Vidalia Police Chief Joey Merrill said the pursuit started in Vidalia, La. near Walmart on Carter Street. The driver led officers on several Vidalia streets and rammed a Vidalia Police Department unit before continuing across the bridge, Merrill said.

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“The officer appears to be OK and is getting checked out,” Merrill said.

A person was apprehended near St. Catherine and 4th streets at approximately 6 p.m.

Details about what started the pursuit were not immediately available.

However, Merrill said it appears unrelated to another high-speed vehicle chase that started just a few hours earlier.

Authorities said the first chase began in Concordia Parish, also crossing the Mississippi River bridge on U.S. 84 into Natchez. The pursuit started in response to a drive-by shooting incident in Concordia Parish, authorities said.

Information about the shooting was not immediately available.

Law enforcement followed a red Dodge truck at high speeds across the bridge, onto Government Fleet Road, to River Terminal Road, then onto Lower Woodville Road before crossing John R. Junkin Drive to Homochitto Street, then to Martin Luther King Jr. Street before law enforcement eventually apprehended the driver on Main Street near N. Pearl Street, authorities said.

Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Deputies, Vidalia Police, Natchez Police and ACSO collaboratively chased the vehicle before its driver was apprehended.

This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available.