By Staff
FATAL SCENE – Mike Spears, of Mike Spears Auto Repair, tows a Toyota sport utility vehicle from the scene of a fatal accident Monday that resulted in the death of 16-year-old Candace Garrett, a junior at Neshoba Central High School. Photo by Carisa McCain/The Meridian Star
By William F. West / community editor
Nov. 12, 2002
A 16-year-old Neshoba County student died Monday after a one-vehicle accident on Highway 19 south of Collinsville.
Candace Garrett, of Neshoba County Road 705, Union, died at 12:20 p.m. in the emergency room at Rush Foundation Hospital, Lauderdale County Coroner Marl Cobler said.
Cobler said Garrett died of massive trauma and fractures.
About an hour earlier, Garrett was driving a 1994 Toyota sport utility vehicle north on the four-lane highway when the wreck happened, according to investigators.
Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Sgt. Johnny Knox said the vehicle went off the left side of the pavement and flipped. Knox said Garrett, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown through the vehicle's open sunroof. He said the vehicle came to a stop in the intersection of the highway and Okatibbee Dam Road.
Neshoba County Schools Superintendent Steve Nelson said he received news of Garrett's death about 1:30 p.m.
Garrett was a junior and one of more than 700 students at Neshoba Central High School.
Nelson said counselors were also quickly alerted to the news of Garrett's death and met with a few small groups of students during the afternoon.
Nelson said anytime a student dies, one feels for the parents, too.