Velma Hendrix, the 84-year-old mayor of Melville, Louisiana, who was running for reelection, was killed in a car crash on Election Day just hours before the polls closed, local authorities announced.
Hendrix was the passenger in a car struck by a pickup truck on a highway. Hendrix, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time, was the only individual to die in the accident. Hendrix was transported to a local hospital in critical condition but “ultimately succumbed to her injuries,” Louisiana State Police announced.
The driver of the pickup truck also survived the crash. Law enforcement conducted sobriety tests on the driver, which showed he had “no alcohol in his system and had no signs of impairment.” Police cited the driver for failure to yield from a stop sign and driving without a seatbelt.
As the Louisiana State Police explained:
The preliminary investigation…
