Alcorn State student survived hours in overturned SUV - MSNewsNow.com - Jackson, MS

Alcorn State student survived hours in overturned SUV

Roslyn Anderson - bio | email

JEFFERSON COUNTY,MS (WLBT) – An Alcorn student is lucky to be alive after waiting hours for rescue when her SUV overturned in a ditch on a dark rural Jefferson county road.

Sheriff Peter Walker said Melanie Wells of Vicksburg was seriously injured when she was found inside her Ford Expedition on Stonington Road near the intersection of Highway 552.

The 23-year-old National Guard member was traveling north on 552 when she told authorities she tried to avoid hitting a deer, left the roadway and flipped at least four  times.

The sheriff said damage to a right tire indicated the SUV dropped into a culvert before beginning a series of rolls.

The vehicle was upside down in a ditch when it was finally spotted by passersby after six o'clock Sunday morning.

Sheriff Walker, who lives near the crash site, said it is isolated and there were no houses for about a quarter of a mile.

Wells was transported to a Natchez hospital then transferred to University Medical Center.

Investigators said she suffered injuries to the lower part of her body, shoulder and a cut on her neck.

The sheriff credited her safety belt with saving her life.

Investigators said the Alcorn student lived off campus in the Red Lick community in Jefferson county which was about four miles from where Wells was stranded.

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