Victim of single-vehicle crash on Hwy. 53 identified

HARRISON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - A morning drive turned deadly on Highway 53 in Harrison County near Lizana School Road.

Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove identified the victim as 85-year-old Prather Necaise of Saucer.

A crew was working on a power pole nearby and heard the gravel of the tires leaving the road.

“First thing, I turned around and said I know he’s going to hit something. Well he hit that tree and we all dropped everything and ran over there to try to see what we could do,” said Hunter Comeaux.

Mississippi Highway Patrol said a vehicle went off the road, hitting a tree.

There wasn’t anything that Comeaux and his fellow linemen could do. The vehicle careened off the shoulder of the highway barrelling into the tree.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was in the vehicle at the time.

“It’s gotten to be where highway 53 is a very dangerous road,” said Comeaux.

Ron Northrop lives nearby and has now seen multiple fatal accidents near this intersection.

“It’s pitiful. It’s awful. A loss of life,” Northrop said.

It happened in a flash, and Lauren Fleming, who works near where the accident happened, said it's heartbreaking. She's also counting her blessings that she decided to delay her drive to work by a few minutes.

“He came through right where me and my boss would have been,” she said.

While she counted her blessings, she also said it’s devastating to think about the timing of this accident.

“It’s a horrible thing. It seems like more and more people lose their lives around the holidays and I just pray for their family,” Fleming said.

MHP, Harrison County Fire Services, and the Combat Readiness Training Center responded to the crash.

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