STARKVILLE — A community college student from Starkville faces six counts of aggravated DUI in the wake of Wednesday’s fatal car crash that claimed the life of 19-year-old Treasure Huffman, the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday.
Austin Tyler Poole, 18, of 628 S. Montgomery St., in Starkville, was arrested Thursday and released on a $30,000 bond in the continuing OCSO investigation.
Poole is believed to be the driver of the 1999 Ford Explorer that crashed into a wooded area near Oktoc Road and Skinner Road in rural Oktibbeha County, in the early morning hours Wednesday.
Poole faces a sentence of 5 to 25 years for each count of aggravated DUI, defined by Mississippi law as “each death, mutilation, disfigurement or other injury…caused in a negligent manner.”
Huffman, who had just completed her freshman year at Mississippi State University, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Of the five other passengers in the vehicle who received treatment, two were treated and released at Oktibbeha County Hospital. Kaylan Smith is receiving treatment at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, while Jonathan Dean and John Tucker Bailey are being treated at University Medical Center in Jackson.
Mississippi law set the standard for DUI at a blood alcohol content of .02 percent for anyone under the age of 21.
A blood sample from Poole was drawn by the OCSO, during the investigation, and was sent to the state crime lab in Jackson for analysis.
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