MS Coast man sentenced to prison for fatal 2023 crash during Cruisin’ The Coast

A Gulfport man will spend 17 years in prison after he killed a woman while driving erratically during Cruisin’ The Coast in 2023.

Joshua Ray Bullock, 44, was sentenced on Monday to one count of manslaughter, District Attorney Crosby Parker said. Bullock pleaded guilty in September.

Judge Christopher Schmidt called the accident a “tragedy.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so awful,” he said.

Authorities began investigating in October 2023, after the Biloxi Police Department responded to the Starbucks parking lot near Edgewater Mall. They found that Bullock hit a car as a woman and her daughter were heading home after watching cars on Highway 90.

The crash killed 67-year-old Donna Lee Wilson.

Bullock drove into the mall parking lot and started driving erratically, including doing donuts and speeding, according to investigators. He lost control of his car and crashed into Wilson’s parked car at about 48 miles per hour, pinning her between her car and the Starbucks sign. Investigators determined that Bullock was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time.

Still, Bullock admitted during the investigation that he had killed someone and had done donuts in the parking lot, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He claimed to be suffering hallucinations. But Assistant District Attorney Mara Joffe said video surveillance showed Bullock driving normally on Highway 90 for 13 minutes before he arrived in the mall’s parking lot.

Bullock will serve three years of post-release supervision.

“The Defendant’s reckless and negligence acts turned a family outing into a tragedy,” Parker said. “The Wilson family lost a mother and a grandmother that day. We hope today’s sentence brings them justice and helps in their healing process.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 5:10 PM.