A Collins man has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal wreck on Interstate 20 West near Bovina.

The official charge against Roger Dale Curtis, 28, 201 S. Second St., Collins, when he pleaded guilty in Warren County Circuit Court this week was leaving the scene of an accident. He was sentenced by Judge M. James Chaney to prison plus three years of probation and he was ordered to pay $6,874 in funeral costs for Dudley Shane Scrimpshire, 42, of Moselle, according to court records.

Curtis struck Scrimpshire on March 12, 2011, on the Bovina exit ramp but told Mississippi Bureau of Investigation officers that he did not realize he had hit a person. Scrimpshire was walking along the ramp after the car he had been driving to Texas broke down along the interstate. The car had been used to commit a crime in Richland, according to court documents, and Scrimpshire was returning it to its owner.

The car was parked with the hood raised near where Scrimpshire’s body was found. The car’s owner last heard from Scrimpshire shortly after the car broke down.

Scrimpshire died March 14 at University Medical Center in Jackson from injuries suffered when he was struck by the truck, according to court documents.

Curtis told Investigator Bryan Richardson he was on his way to visit his girlfriend in Arkansas and he was lost when he struck Scrimpshire.

Curtis said he was unaware that he had hit anyone. When he arrived in Arkansas, he noticed human hair on his 1988 Chevrolet pickup, according to court records. On the way back to Collins, he heard about the wreck on the radio and realized he had hit a person, Curtis told Richardson.

Curtis said he was scared to tell anyone about the wreck because he was on parole.

The day after Scrimpshire died, Curtis sold his truck to a Magee recycling company for $399, records show. MBI investigators examined the truck, which had already been partially destroyed, and found Scrimpshire’s blood on the passenger side rear view mirror, according to court documents.