Warren County Sheriff Deputy Bo McLeod, left, and Vicksburg Police Department Investigator Tom Wilson survey the damage to a Jeep Wrangler after the body of Nicholas Scott Townsend had been removed. (Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[11/17/03]A 15-year-old student died this morning when the Jeep he was driving flipped on Beechwood Road.

It was the second fatal wreck in Warren county in less than 30 hours.

Nicholas Scott Townsend, provisionally licensed to drive, was en route to class at Warren Central High School. Deputy Sheriff Randy Lewis said the family had lived at 2245 Culkin Road, but was in the process of moving.

Townsend died from head trauma, said Warren County Coroner John Thomason. Authorities were trying to determine what caused the one-vehicle wreck reported at 7:32 a.m.

A passenger, Eric Wayne Martin, also 15, of 2500 Culkin Road, was taken to River Region Medical Center, was treated and released.

Under Mississippi law, a 15-year-old can obtain a driving permit and must be tested six months later before receiving an intermediate license.

That license restricts drivers under 17 to operating vehicles between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Townsend had an intermediate license, authorities said. He would have turned 16 on Jan. 17, 2004.

Townsend was the son of Leon and Gina Pugh. Other relatives had not been identified. His body was taken to Fisher Funeral Home where arrangements were to be determined.

In the earlier fatal accident, a Louisiana man died Sunday morning and a Vicksburg man was charged with driving under the influence after a wreck at Halls Ferry Road and Interstate 20.

Jason DeWayne Driver, 26, of Sondheimer, La., was taken to River Region Medical Center where he died at 1:22 a.m. from head injuries, Thomason said.

Driver had been traveling in a Ford Escort off the I-20 eastbound exit ramp onto Halls Ferry Road shortly after midnight when the car was struck by a 1991 Buick Roadmaster driven by Marcus L. Wells, 28, 217 Hillside Drive, according to a Vicksburg police report.

Wells, the report says, was headed the wrong way down the off ramp.

A passenger in the Escort, Richard White, 19, 106 Plantation Drive, was taken to University Medical Center where he was listed in critical condition. Darrell Scott, 34, of Hattiesburg was a passenger in the Buick and was treated and released from River Region Medical Center.

Wells was released on a $607 bond.

The services for Driver will be Tuesday under the direction of Glenwood Funeral Home of Tallulah.