A Starkville man is dead after a vehicle hit him on Highway 82 this morning.
Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt confirmed to The Dispatch 62-year-old Melvin Yeates died after being hit by a vehicle. Hunt said he was called to the scene, on Highway 82 East near the Rockhill Road overpass in north Starkville, at 6:25 a.m.
He said he pronounced Yeates dead at the scene.
Starkville Police Department is investigating the incident, but did not provide further details by press time.
Melvin Yeates may have fallen from the Rockhill Road bridge onto Highway 82. However, investigators have not confirmed that detail to The Dispatch.
Yeats’ friends and family members lingered on the overpass this morning, which is near his Rockhill Road home.
Jerry Yeats, Melvin’s brother, said he didn’t know much about the incident, but found out when his mother called him.
“I got off work at about 4:30 (a.m.),” Jerry Yeates said. “I went to sleep. My mama had come knocking on the door crying saying they found a body on the bridge. I didn’t know it was my brother. I went back in the house, and this lady came in the house and said it was him.”
Jerry Yeates said he was surprised to learn his brother had been out walking along the Rockhill Road bridge.
“It amazed me, knowing he’d be up here on that bridge at that time of the morning,” he said.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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