Mississippi man charged after 8 hurt as ATV wrecks in ditch

Published 6:07 pm Monday, August 19, 2019

(AP) — A Mississippi man faces felony charges after an all-terrain vehicle accident injured eight people Saturday night.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie tells The Meridian Star that an ATV with nine riders went into ditch in Bailey, with eight people treated at hospitals. Three were airlifted to Jackson.

The driver, 30-year-old Joseph Covington Bass of Meridian, has been charged with a felony for leaving the scene of an accident. Sollie says Bass wasn’t tested for alcohol because he was gone when authorities arrived.

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Bass was arrested several hours later. He’s free on $10,000 bail.

The sheriff says speed, darkness and the terrain were factors in the accident.

Bailey Fire Chief Stanley Lucky says bodies were everywhere when firefighters arrived.

Sollie says prosecutors will decide if more criminal charges are merited.