Police investigating after driver kills pedestrian lying in the road, police say

A driver struck and killed a man lying in the middle of Highway 57 near Robinson Road on Tuesday night, according to the Gautier Police Department.

The driver, who struck the man about 11 p.m., called Gautier police to report the incident.

The pedestrian died at the scene, according to a news release from the police department. The driver is cooperating with investigators.

The Jackson County Coroner’s Office is working to identify the man. He is white and believed to be between 50 and 60 years old.

Several drivers on Highway 57 reported seeing a man in the road and acting erratically hours earlier, but Gautier Police Chief David Bever said that man was taken into custody on charges of public drunkenness.

The case remains under investigation.

Margaret Baker

Sun Herald

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Margaret is an investigative reporter whose search for truth exposed corrupt sheriffs, a police chief and various jailers and led to the first prosecution of a federal hate crime for the murder of a transgendered person. She worked on the Sun Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Hurricane Katrina team. When she pursues a big story, she is relentless.