Officials from the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office have arrested and charged a suspect in a recent hit-and-run incident that left a 26-year-old man dead earlier this month.
Andrew David Cook was recently apprehended and charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident, resulting in death or injury of another. A surety bond was set at $10,000.
“I can’t go into much detail, because we just found out who (the suspect) was,” Sheriff Danny Rigel said. “But he is cooperating, and we did some forensic tests on his vehicle and we found some evidence to send out for further testing.
“But it does look like it’s going to be the vehicle that hit the (victim) and his bike.”
Cook is suspected to have hit Donivan Barnes in early October before leaving the scene of that incident. Barnes was found on October 7 in a ditch just off Westover Drive in Hattiesburg.
Barnes’ body was sent to the state crime lab in Jackson for an autopsy.
“We won’t (issue a cause of death) until we get those results,” Lamar County Coroner Blake Matherne said.
The investigation in the case is ongoing.
“We’re going to go with these charges right now, but they may be upgraded at a later date,” Rigel said.
