Daily Review 1

Published:

10/20/2012 12:30:35 AM

Last Updated:

12/2/2013 8:22:27 AM

Volunteer firefighters work at the scene of a crash that injured a local teen on Highway 84 West early Sunday. (Photo by Mark Thornton)

UPDATE: West Jones student dies after crash
   A 16-year-old West Jones student who was airlifted from the scene after crashing his pickup on Highway 84 West early Sunday night died at a Jackson hospital on Monday morning, according to reports.
   Joseph Grayson was taken to Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg by Baptist Lifeflight air ambulance, then airlifted to University Medical Center in Jackson. He was pronounced dead this morning, according to social media updates posted by his mother, Charlotte Grayson.
    Family members report that he is suffering from a head injury and bruised lungs, among other injuries, and was listed in critical condition when he was airlifted.
    Michael Baucom, who is a volunteer medical first-responder in Galveston, Texas, was traveling west when he saw the crash.
   “I saw a set of lights, then taillights, then headlights, and I knew someone had wrecked,” he said.
   Baucom stopped and rushed over to Grayson and stayed with him until local volunteers arrived. At 6:38 p.m. first-responders and rescue units from Calhoun, Pleasant Ridge and Hebron Volunteer Fire Departments responded to the accident, which occurred in front of West Jones Elementary School.
   When they arrived, Grayson was unresponsive and trapped inside his vehicle. Lifeflight was called immediately and the Jaws-of-Life was used to remove the roof and free the victim from the vehicle.
   Grayson was reportedly traveling east on the highway when his 2002 Ford F150 left the road and flipped several times before coming to rest right-side up.
    The cause of the accident remains under investigation by the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
    The air ambulance landed in the eastbound lane of Highway 84 West and both lanes of the highway remained closed for more than an hour while rescue and cleanup operations were performed.
    Also responding to the accident scene were the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, EMServ ambulance service, Jones County Fire Coordinator Dan McKenna and Investigator Wayne Black with the Jones County District Attorney’s office.

— By Linda Cranford/Jones County Fire Council PIO