Wrongful death lawsuit filed over South MS train-van collision that killed 5

Relatives of four of the five people killed in a train-van collision in Stone County are seeking unspecified damages in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the train operators.

The suit is filed in Stone County Circuit Court against the operators of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway, identified in the lawsuit as Lagarius Knight, of Petal, and Alvin Fortner of the McHenry community in Stone County.

Gulfport attorney David Pitre filed the lawsuit on behalf of the beneficiaries of Kristina Carver, 45, her two daughters, Emley Chamblee, 22, and Sarabeth Chamblee, 20, and beneficiaries of Carver’s fiancé, Ryan Peterson,

The beneficiaries of Carver and her daughters are William and Bertha Cavin. The beneficiaries of Peterson’s estate are Jay Peterson and Sylvia Peterson.

Carver, her two daughters, Peterson, and Demarcus Perkins, 23, died in the March 27 collision with a CPKC train at the Pump Branch Road crossing in Stone County. Another of Carver’s daughters, Ariel Chamblee, was seriously injured.

Peterson, a corrections officer in Harrison County, was driving the van at the time of the collision.

The collision was the third fatal accident at the crossing in about three years. Two previous crashes — in February and April 2023 — each resulted in one death. The April 2023 crash also injured three people.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and accuses the train operators of negligent and reckless operation. Specifically, it alleges they failed to:

• Maintain proper visibility at the crossing in a wooded area with trees, brush, and other overgrown vegetation that obstructed the driver’s ability to see an oncoming train at the crossing.
• Provide active warning devices like flashing lights or crossing gates to warn drivers of oncoming trains.
• Maintain safe speeds through the crossing despite a history of serious and fatal accidents at the crossing.
• Sound timely warning sounds for approaching drivers.
• Keep a proper lookout at the crossing and take reasonable steps to avoid a collision.

A stop sign is currently in place at the crossing.

In the aftermath of the deadly March 27 collision, work crews began the process of installing flashing lights and crossing arms at the deadly crossing.

In November 2025, the Mississippi Department of Transportation requested funding from the Federal Highway Administration to upgrade seven crossings on the CPKC line from Gulfport to Hattiesburg, including the Pump Branch Road crossing, according to MDOT public information officer, Anna Ehrgott.

A lawsuit represents one side of a case. The Sun Herald was unable to reach the defendants to comment and no response to the complaint has been filed, according to court records.

This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 12:23 PM.

Margaret Baker

Sun Herald

601-909-0541

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.