Car crashes claimed a total of 15 lives across Mississippi over the Labor Day weekend and residents of Vicksburg and Tallulah died in a crash in Louisiana. 

The Louisiana State Police (LSP) said a single-vehicle crash on U.S. 80 east of Louisiana Highway 601-2 Sunday morning in Madison Parish killed 20-year-old Kayden Acuff, of Tallulah, and 21-year-old Jamicha Lovings-Smith of Vicksburg.

The LSP said the preliminary investigation revealed that Acuff was driving west on U.S. 80 in a 2015 Nissan Altima. For reasons still under investigation, the Nissan ran off the right side of the road.

Acuff attempted to regain control of the Nissan by steering to the left, but overcorrected. As a result, the vehicle crossed the west and eastbound lanes of U.S. 80 and struck a tree on the eastbound shoulder.  

Acuff, who was unrestrained, suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. Lovings-Smith, who was the front seat passenger and unrestrained, also suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene.  

The LSP said impairment is a suspected factor in this crash. Routine toxicology samples were collected and will be submitted for analysis. This crash remains under investigation.  

A second deadly wreck claimed the life of a20-year-old Michael Robinson, of Greenville, Monday afternoon, when Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) said a three-vehicle accident on U.S. Highway 61 North near Valley Park also injured two others. 

The MHP said a 2024 Honda HR-V, driven by an 18-year-old from Bella Vista, Ark. and traveling northbound on US-61, collided head-on with a 2024 Jeep Wrangler driven by 23-year-old Drakeria Dorris of Greenville, which then collided with a 2011 GMC Acadia driven by 69-year-old L.T. Young Jr. of Detroit. Vincent Young of Chicago and 60-year-old Michael Alexander of Crown Point, Ind. were passengers in the GMC. Robinson was a passenger in the Wrangler. 

The driver of the Honda was transported to UMMC in Jackson with unknown injuries, MHP said. The driver and passengers of the GMC received minor injuries. Dorris was transported to Merit Health in Vicksburg with unknown injuries. Robinson received fatal injuries from the crash and was pronounced dead on the scene.

Monday night, a two-car collision in Utica claimed the life of Claiborne County resident, according to published reports.

The crashes in Valley Park and Utica remain under investigation by the MHP and the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office, respectively. 

MHP said the total of 15 fatalities over the holiday weekend was a 275 percent increase over last year’s total of four.