Toddler dies when hit by car|[7/17/06]

Published 12:00 am Monday, July 17, 2006

A 3-year-old boy crossing the street to play was killed Sunday evening by a car in front of his south Vicksburg home.

Donald Lee Cotton was headed to play in a neighbor’s front yard at 8:17 p.m. when he was hit by an eastbound 1983 Oldsmobile Royale driven by Joe Nathan Mitchell, 25, 170 Meadowbrook Drive, Vicksburg Police said.

Donald was pronounced dead at the scene, but an autopsy was expected today, Warren County Coroner John Thomason said.

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Capt. Mark Culbertson said Mitchell drove to his house after the wreck, then fled on foot through a wooded area adjacent to the neighborhood.

After an hourlong search that included assistance from the Warren County Sheriff’s Department and K-9 units from Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, Mitchell was arrested at Dana Road and Pleasant Valley Drive after phoning an acquaintance in the neighborhood, who then notified police, Culbertson said.

Mitchell was charged with manslaughter and culpable negligence and held on $250,000 bond.

Mitchell, an employee of Piazza Plumbing, was also cited for driving with a suspended license and not having insurance, Culbertson said, adding his only other brush with the law was failure to pay child support.

&#8220Evidently, he did not have a driver’s license since 2004,” Culbertson said.

Angela Cotton, the boy’s mother, said she and her family had lived in the mobile home at 124 Meadowbrook Drive for five years and that Donald was the youngest of her three sons. Zachary, 6, and Jesse, 17, were not at the house at the time of the accident.

A yellow tricycle and a miniature truck still stood outside the home this morning where they were left.

&#8220He’d ride his tricycle and his little truck all around the place,” she said.

Fisher Funeral Home has charge of the arrangements.