MS Coast man killed in fatal wreck recently lost his firefighter son to rare cancer

A Mississippi Coast man killed in a wreck involving a dump truck last week had recently loss a son to a rare form of cancer.

Rickey Latch, 64, was traveling northbound Thursday on Mississippi 67 when the 2021 Toyota 4 Runner SUV he was driving collided with a 1996 Mack 600 dump truck headed east on East Wortham Road, according to a press release from Mississippi Highway Patrol.

The Harrison County wreck occurred at about 12:20 p.m., MHP said.

Latch died from injuries sustained in the crash. The driver of the dump truck, identified by MHP as 50-year-old Roy Smith of Biloxi, survived the crash. It’s not clear if he sustained any injuries.

Latch was the father to a fallen Pascagoula firefighter, Jacob Brice Latch, who passed away in Oct. 2021 from a rare form of cancer.

Jacob Latch was a Coast firefighter for 16 years. After his death, a national non profit called Tunnels of Towers foundation payed off his family’s home mortgage.

Rickey Latch’s church, Coast Life Church on Seaway Road in Gulfport, mourned his loss on Facebook.

“Rickey was well known and much loved all across the coast and beyond,” the post reads. “He will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him.”

Sun Herald reporter Margaret Baker contributed to this report.