The year 2014 had a number of interesting stories that could be considered odd.
Our ninth and tenth stories cover two incidents that involved similar circumstances. Late in January a man walking in the middle of Interstate 59 near Lumberton was struck by two cars, tragically killing him.
Another pedestrian was killed on the same Interstate near exit 7 when she crossed the median into traffic and was struck by a vehicle. She also died as a result of her injuries.
At number eight, our next story takes place in the Walmart parking lot. On Dec. 9 a county resident complained to management that an out of town group of people were selling fast food restaurant gift cards. Management asked them to leave the store, which led to an altercation between the group and the complainant in the parking lot that later led to gun being shot in the air to diffuse the situation.
Most of the time booking a suspect into the jail is a seamless process. Our seventh story takes place on Aug. 26 a woman decided to put up a fight as she was being booked for a simple warrant. As the female suspect was being searched by a female officer, the suspect resisted, forcing another officer to intervene. During the altercation the suspect bit the backup officer on his forearm, leaving two lacerations, leading her to additionally be charged with simple assault on a police officer.
At number six is the story of an alligator seen sunning itself on Palestine Road. For years there have been reports of an alligator in that area, but late in May the 9-foot animal was finally captured after a Picayune Police officer tracked it into the woods, and later called the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to capture it.
At number five is a story about a man calling a deputy in an attempt to to buy drugs. It’s unusual for a law enforcement officer to be asked to sell drugs but that’s what happened on Sept. 20 when a man called an officer’s personal cell phone looking for a quarter pound of marijuana. Instead of telling the caller they had the wrong number, the officer set up a meeting. During the meeting the suspect fled after seeing law enforcement officers exit the vehicle. The high-speed chase ended after the suspect crashed into the side of a public housing building.
Our fourth story focuses on an individual who was arrested twice within a 12-hour period. She was arrested on Sept. 4 after being caught trying to shoplift about $26 worth of personal hygiene products. She fled on foot when the store’s antitheft device went off, and was later caught coming out of a wooded area. Officers determined she was intoxicated and charged her with shoplifting and public drunk. After bonding out at 9:30 the next morning, officers were called to a local convenience store less than two hours later in reference to a woman who had been in the bathroom for too long. Officers arrived to find Marshall in the bathroom, unsteady on her feet and speaking in a slurred manner. In the bathroom the officers found a syringe containing a strange solution and oxycontin, leading her to be arrested again.
Our third story involves another shooting incident. The incident occurred in early October at a Lumberton hotel where two men were allegedly engaged in a drug transaction that somehow led to a verbal dispute. One of the men had a .22 caliber handgun with him at the time. The rest of the story is summed up in Deputy Chief Shane Tucker’s quote, “In his agitated state he accidentally shot himself in the leg. Shortly after that he shot (the other man) in the leg.”
Our second odd story involves a man who disappeared in March within the Stennis Space Center buffer zone. After being turned away from the north gate of the rocket engine testing facility for a lack of clearance on a Sunday night, he was not seen again until Wednesday of that week when he was found naked and hiding in a power substation breaker box. It’s unclear why he had removed his clothes and abandoned his vehicle within the buffer zone, but officers reported finding methamphetamine in his vehicle.
Top on the list of odd stories involves an incident that took place on Oct. 20, where the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department investigated a home invasion. According to the investigation, three men were allegedly involved in the beating of a county resident. When the department finished processing the scene, the investigator received a call that a local man had been admitted to a Slidell, La. hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound. Further investigation into the man with the gunshot wound determined him to be a suspect in the beating, and that he sustained the wound when the gun discharged while beating the assault victim with the gun.