A 62-year-old truck driver from Marietta died Wednesday morning after his tractor-trailer left Highway 45 Alternate and slammed into a storage facility in West Point, burying the truck so deeply in debris that rescuers needed heavy wreckers just to reach him. Donald McIntyre was hauling a load of scrap metal when the crash happened around 9 a.m., leaving several storage units heavily damaged and closing part of the highway corridor for hours.
McIntyre was traveling south on Highway 45 Alternate when he lost control of the truck and left the roadway, according to The Dispatch, which reported the crash caused between three and five storage units at S&W Mini Storage to be significantly damaged. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott described the scene as massive, telling WCBI TV that the 18-wheeler ended up buried so deeply inside the building, under collapsed roof debris, that West Point Fire and Rescue had to drag the truck backward out of the structure with heavy wreckers before crews could reach McIntyre. First responders had initially been dispatched for a report of a truck in a ditch before arriving to find the full scale of the wreck.
Bud Coley Trucking, the Tupelo-based delivery company McIntyre drove for, employed him at the time of the crash. Bryant Flake, speaking on behalf of the company per the same account, said he was not certain of McIntyre's delivery destination that morning and confirmed that no other injuries were reported in the wreck.
Witnesses Say Truck Never Braked
Witness accounts described to the same station indicated the tractor-trailer drifted off Highway 45 Alternate and did not appear to brake before striking the mini-storage facility, a detail that could prove significant for investigators. The Mississippi Highway Patrol is leading the investigation into the cause of the wreck, and the lack of braking raises questions about whether McIntyre experienced a sudden medical emergency, a mechanical failure, or driver fatigue in the moments before the crash. No findings on the cause have been released.
S&W Mini Storage has operated at its 6211 US-45 Alternate site since 1991 and is one of three local storage facilities in the area equipped with 24-hour video surveillance, according to the business's records. The family-owned facility is run by local residents D.C. and Vicki Dimino. The extent of the property damage and any insurance or repair timeline for the affected units has not yet been detailed.
A Corridor With a History of Deadly Wrecks
Wednesday's crash adds to a troubling pattern along Highway 45 Alternate near West Point. Just last year, a major multi-vehicle crash about a mile south of West Point left one person dead and required five ambulances and three medevac helicopters to respond, as reported by The Commercial Dispatch. Local residents have frequently raised concerns about high speeds and traffic congestion along the corridor.
The stretch has also seen a commercial truck rollover at Airport Road in December 2016 and two fatal motorcycle crashes in August 2015, according to earlier Commercial Dispatch reporting. Mississippi ranked highest in the nation for per-capita commercial motor vehicle fatalities as of 2022 federal data, with 31.17 fatal truck crashes per million residents, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration figures. Nationally, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported that 5,340 people died in large truck crashes in 2024, with truck occupants accounting for 17% of those deaths, while the National Safety Council found that collisions with fixed objects like buildings make up roughly 9.7% of all large commercial truck accidents.
Bud Coley Trucking has been incorporated in Mississippi since 1990 and operates an interstate fleet of 39 power units with 39 registered drivers, logging 4.6 million vehicle miles in 2024, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records. The company, which specializes in hauling general freight, metals, and dry bulk, holds memberships with both the Mississippi Trucking Association and the American Trucking Associations. The Mississippi Highway Patrol's investigation into what caused McIntyre to leave the roadway remains ongoing.
