Wreck Closes Hwy. 7 for 16+ Hours, Sends One to Hospital

A wreck on Highway 7 South near the Highway 7/9 split Sunday closed the road for more than 16 hours.

According to the Mississippi Highway Patrol, at about 12:17 p.m. Sunday, a 2017 Freightliner driven by Jared E. Morrison, 35, of Lafayette, Louisiana was traveling south on Highway 7 when a 2006 Saturn Ion, driven by Malori E. Smith, 22, of Banner tried to turn left into a private driveway and collided with the 18-wheeler truck.

Smith was seriously injured and flown via medical helicopter to the Region One hospital in Memphis. The drive of the truck was uninjured.

The tanker went off the road and overturned. It was carrying a crude form of biodiesel, according to Lafayette County Emergency Management Director Steve Quarles.

The contents of the tanker did not spill as a result of the crash.

“However, the contents of the container had to be transferred to another truck,” Quarles said this morning.

Due to having to move the contents to another truck and cleaning up the wreck, the road was closed, forcing traffic going south on Highway 7 to be redirected through Old Taylor Road to the old River Road. The Lafayette County Fire Department also responded to the scene.

The highway was reopened at about 4:30 a.m. this morning.

E3 Environmental was the cleanup crew and Shiver’s Towing removed the tanker.

The crash is still under investigation by MHP.