Two pedestrians have died in separate traffic crashes in Ruston in less than three days.
Jack Mitcham, 21, of Ruston, was struck by a vehicle on the South Service Road just inside the Ruston city limits about 2:15 a.m. on Saturday morning, October 19. Mitcham later passed away in a medical facility.
Abby Sterling, 20, of Shreveport was arrested for first degree vehicular negligent injuring.
That charge is expected to be upgraded to vehicular homicide with Mitcham’s passing, according to Ruston Police.
Officers responded to the scene early Saturday to find two men lying on the north shoulder of the 2300 block of South Service Road. A Nissan Altima stopped in the left lane displayed damage to its front end and windshield.
Ruston Ambulance Service responded and transported the Mitcham and Hahn Bridges, 20, of Monroe, to the Northern Louisiana Medical Center. Bridges’s condition was not available at publication time.
According to an officer’s report, when Sterling was interviewed, she said she was traveling east on the Service Road and the two men were in the travel lane. She said she tried to stop but did not have enough space to stop.
An odor of alcoholic beverages was detected on Sterling and based on her poor performance on field sobriety tests, she was arrested.
A breath test at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center showed Sterling’s blood alcohol content was .169g%, more than twice Louisiana’s legal limit.
The crash follows the death of a New Orleans man on Cooktown Road last Wednesday.
Luis Alberto Esparza Rios, 41, was struck by several vehicles as he tried to cross Cooktown Road near the Super 8 Motel about 9:20 p.m. on October 16.
Ruston Police continue to investigate both crashes.
Funeral arrangements for Mitcham are pending.
