Mom of 4 dies in crash after being hit by police officer during chase in Mississippi

Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Mom of four killed during police chase
Mom of four killed during police chase in Mississippi.

SARDIS, Mississippi -- A mother of four is dead after she was hit head-on by a police officer involved in a high-speed chase with a motorcyclist Monday night in Mississippi.

Police say 32-year-old Ericka Hughes was turning into a Sonic to buy her children food, when she was hit and killed.

Witnesses say the officer was swerving in and out of traffic on the highway when he crossed the center line and hit Hughes, who was headed in the opposite direction.

Witnesses told WREG the impact of the crash sounded like a bomb going off.

"An impact like that... everybody just turns around. You don't know what you're looking (at), you just see debris flying," one person said.

The officer involved is hospitalized in critical condition.

"She was my everything. It was only me and her. So when they took her, they took all I had. When they took her, they took half of me," said Brenda Hughes, the victim's sister.

The person who was being chased on the motorcycle has not been caught.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol is handling the investigation. It would not comment on whether the cruiser was equipped with a dash cam.