The Picayune Item

August 18, 2009

Supervisor: Bridge rails stolen at site of crash


McCOMB, Miss. — An Amite County supervisor says there were no bridge railings at the site of a fatal accident because the rails had been stolen.

Authorities say three friends left a party last week and were headed to Kentwood, La., when they ran off the bridge in rural Amite County.

Susan Haskins, a 20-year-old University of Mississippi student, was killed.

Police say 20-year-old Delmus Tyler Cunningham was the driver and was charged with vehicular homicide.

Supervisor Max Lawson said it has been difficult to keep railings on the small bridge over the east fork of the Amite River because people have been stealing the creosote wooden bridge railings for years.

He suspects the thieves use them to burn.