A public works employee driving a city-owned truck that hit a pedestrian at the intersection of Second Avenue North and Fifth Street North has not yet been disciplined, pending the results of an investigation.
Bennie Coleman, the assistant director for public works, allegedly hit the pedestrian March 11 in the crosswalk on Fifth Street while turning left from Second Avenue North near Zachary’s restaurant, according to a police report The Dispatch obtained through a public records request. The pedestrian was then taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle for treatment and later released.
Mayor Keith Gaskin told The Dispatch on Thursday that he was informed of the accident by Police Chief Joseph Daughtry, who was on the scene immediately after it happened.
“I’m very sorry that someone was injured there, and I’m very sorry that they were struck by a city employee just as I would be sorry if someone were struck by any car,” Gaskin said.
The police report does not include any information regarding the severity of the accident or the woman’s injuries. The police report notes that a witness on the scene stated the pedestrian was “walking across the crosswalk while the crosswalk signal was red.”
Coleman started working for the city in 2014, according to a Thursday email from Chief Financial Officer Jim Brigham.
Coleman was drug tested following the accident and the test came back clear, Gaskin said.
If in the course of the investigation, the city found there was negligence on the part of its employee, the city council would then receive a recommendation on disciplinary action from public works director Casey Bush and human resources, Gaskin said.
Future safety adjustments
Gaskin called the intersection at Second Avenue North and Fifth Street North “a very bad crossing,” that he has been concerned about for a while, along with others downtown. He said the city has already been working to make the intersection safer, and he intends to take more action to make the crossing safer in the future.
“We were talking about those crosswalks in my Cabinet meeting (with department heads) on Monday, and I brought up that one about Zachary’s again, to say ‘more needs to be done there to make sure that’s safe.’ And… this poor lady was hit on Tuesday,” Gaskin said.
“We need to do everything that we can as a city to make sure that that’s as safe as it can be. There needs to be more work done on that crossing,” he added.
City Engineer Kevin Stafford said complaints from pedestrians about safely crossing the street downtown are not uncommon, including at the intersection of Main Street and Fifth Street and the intersection where the accident happened.
The city has already restriped that crosswalk and made other minor changes in the area to make it safer, Stafford said, but more are on the horizon.
Mississippi Department of Transportation conducted a study of the area in 2019, Stafford said, which led to the creation of a plan to slow traffic and better control flow downtown, including the mini-roundabout in front of Harveys. The plan also included extending sidewalks near pedestrian crossings on Main Street. The same plan calls for sidewalks at Second Avenue and Fifth Street North to “bump out” to the edge of angled parking spaces in the area, he said, giving pedestrians less distance to cross before the light changes.
While the mini-roundabout has already been implemented using an MDOT Transportation Alternatives Program grant, Stafford said, other parts of the plan have been rolling out more slowly as the city has been waiting on funding from the state and other sources.
However, once that funding becomes available, other parts of the plan can roll out, including those that apply to the Fifth Street North and Second Avenue intersection.
“Right now, the pedestrian starts crossing the road at the front of the (parked) car,” Stafford said. “… In that case, we would bump out to the back of the car, and we would do that on both sides. And now the pedestrian only has to cross two lanes of traffic. They don’t have to cross two parking spaces and two lanes to get to the other side. That would increase that safety.”
Stafford said to coordinate with those changes under the plan, traffic lights would be retimed to ensure pedestrian safety.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 48 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 48 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
