Investigators with the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) will be probing a weekend incident that has led to the death of a Charleston man.
Charleston Police Chief John Page confirmed Thursday afternoon that Lezelrick Poole, 29, of 425 Rosalind St., died Wednesday night at a Memphis hospital of injuries he sustained four days earlier when he was allegedly struck by a vehicle driven by his girlfriend in Charleston.
Poole had been listed in critical condition since being airlifted from Tallahatchie General Hospital to Memphis shortly after the 2:30 a.m. Saturday incident on Saint Charles Street.
Page said Poole, who reportedly was walking to his aunt’s house at the time, suffered “massive trauma” to the back of his head.
Aletha Scott, 32, of 524 County Road 117, Tillatoba, who was driving an eastbound Chevrolet Malibu on Saint Charles, is charged with aggravated assault with a vehicle in connection with the episode, Page said.
"We expect that charge to be upgraded," the chief noted Thursday.
Scott had an initial appearance Monday in Charleston Municipal Court, where Municipal Judge Tara Lang ordered the case continued for two weeks pending further investigation of the circumstances surrounding the incident, Page said. Lang ordered Scott released without bond, the chief added.
In the wake of Poole’s death, and after being contacted by the district attorney’s office on Thursday, Page said he has asked state Highway Patrol accident reconstructionists and MBI investigators to get involved in the case.
“I’m going to let them handle it,” he noted.
The chief said Scott’s vehicle will be reexamined for possible evidence.
Page said he expects the state investigators to arrive early next week.
