Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop G saw an active Thanksgiving holiday enforcement period.
Troop G, which patrols several north Mississippi counties, including Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha, issued 730 citations for the travel period, which started at 6 p.m. Wednesday and ended at midnight Sunday.
District troopers responded to 16 wrecks, with four injuries in the same period. No fatalities were reported for any of the wrecks. One of the wrecks was reported as an alcohol-related collision.
Troop G issued 486 hazard citations, which Master Sgt. Criss Turnipseed said are for moving violations such as speeding or reckless driving. Troopers also issued 225 non-hazard citations for violations such as expired tags, and arrested three people for driving under the influence.
Across the state, troopers issued a total of 5,309 citations for the holiday period, including 67 DUIs. They also investigated 171 wrecks that caused 67 injuries.
MHP reported two fatal wrecks for the state during the holiday enforcement period. The first, according to a release from the agency, happened at about 1:17 a.m. Thanksgiving morning in Leflore County. Carnell Gardner, 42, from Itta Bena, was driving a Lexus and lost control of the vehicle on Highway 82. The car crossed into oncoming traffic and collided head on with a semi-truck. Gardner was pronounced dead at the scene.
The second fatality came Sunday morning in Wayne County. MHP responded to the wreck on Highway 45, where a Chevrolet Trailblazer left the road after the driver lost control. The Trailblazer flipped and 60-year-old Amy Trau, of Avon, Illinois, was thrown out of the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at Wayne County General Hospital.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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