A Hammond man died in an overnight accident that involved his vehicle leaving the road and overturning into a creek.

Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Shane Tucker said the accident was called in Thursday just before 7 a.m. after a passerby saw a vehicle off the road upside down in the creek along Sycamore Road near Rayburn Road.

The passerby could not say if anyone was inside the vehicle or not at the time of the call. Tucker said that when a deputy arrived to the scene, he reached inside the driver’s side of the overturned vehicle to find a man was still inside and lifeless.

Investigation into the incident determined that the driver apparently left the road at the curve along the road and struck several road signs before his Ford F-150 struck the embankment of the creek. After the vehicle struck the embankment, it flipped and came to rest upside down in the water, Tucker said.

It is unclear why the vehicle left the road.

Pearl River County Coroner Derek Turnage said the driver has been identified as 56-year-old William Chapman of Hammond, La., and listed his cause of death as drowning due to a rollover vehicle crash into the creek. Due to his investigation, Turnage estimates the crash occurred four to five hours before it was reported to the Sheriff’s Department.

In relation to the accident that occurred on Monday along Highway 26 near the weigh station, the deceased has been identified as 40-year-old Shane Odom of the Crossroads community in Poplarville.

Turnage said his cause of death was due to blunt force trauma sustained in the head-on collision that occurred that day.

According to previous coverage, that collision occurred Monday at 5:50 a.m. when a 1993 Ford F-150 traveling west on Highway 26 near the weigh scales collided head-on with a 2006 Dodge that had turned into the path of the F-150.