D'IBERVILLE, Miss. -- Police officers who tried to talk a man out of the Tchoutacabouffa River were visibly shaken Saturday afternoon when it became apparent the man drowned.
"This is a true tragedy," said Clay Jones, public information officer for D'Iberville police. "Our prayers are with the family of the victim as well as the officers."
Search dogs, dive teams from three agencies, fire and police from D'Iberville and Harrison County, state Fish and Wildlife officers and the state Department of Marine Resources using special sonar are still searching along the Tchoutacabouffa River north of Sangani Boulevard. They're trying to find the body of a man who fled a police traffic stop on Lamey Bridge Road. The man drove north on Lamey Bridge, turned into a subdivision of town houses along the Tchoutacabouffa, left his car and jumped into the river.
Rescue teams are staged at the Lamey Bridge Road bridge over the Tchoutacabouffa.
Jones said the man drove to the back of the subdivision with police in pursuit. A person in the neighborhood flagged down police and led them to where the man was in the water.
The two officers talked with the man. He was in the water along a bulkhead and they were above him, Jones said, trying to persuade him to come out.
"He was right against the shoreline," Jones told the Sun Herald. "Then he backed away and into the river, as if he were going to cross the river."
The officers, still trying to talk him into coming back, saw that the man began struggling.
They both shed their gear and jumped in.
"The individual went under before they got to him," Jones said.
The initial traffic stop happened about 1:20 p.m. The man had outstanding warrants and traffic violations.
Jones said that in accordance with the city police policy, D'Iberville will ask the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation to conduct an independent probe into the apparent death, because officers were involved.
For more on this as it develops, stay with sunherald.com
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