Gulfport man pleads guilty in hit and run death. ‘I knew something had hit my windshield.’
A Gulfport man who pleaded guilty to felony leaving the scene of a crash Monday said he didn’t realize he had struck and fatally wounded a man until after he fled the scene.
Rodney Garfield Weston Jr., 30, said he was driving home from work on Highway 49 around 9:30 p.m. on April 4, 2022, when he noticed something hit his windshield at the Highway 49 intersection at 28th Avenue.
Weston said he stopped and looked back down the road but didn’t see the man he struck lying in the middle of the highway. Authorities identified the dead man as Justin Heath Parker, 36, of Biloxi. Once Weston got home to his apartment complex, he said he saw that his windshield had cracked and a side mirror had been damaged.
“I knew something had hit my windshield,” he said. “I didn’t know that it was a person.”
Harrison County Assistant District Attorney Haley Broome questioned whether Weston really knew he had hit Parker before fleeing the scene of the crash since he later admitted to prosecutors that he “panicked” and fled the scene.
Witnesses, she said, saw Weston’s vehicle hit Parker and then leave the scene of the crash.
Four days later, at a New Orleans hospital, Parker died of his injuries.
On Monday, Weston pleaded guilty to the felony charge before Judge Larry Bourgeois. His sentencing was deferred until Aug. 5 in Harrison County Circuit Court.
“You, sir, are staring down the barrel of a 20-year sentence, and if you get in trouble between now and(Aug.) 5, I assure you, you will get it all.”
The judge allowed Weston to remain on bond pending sentencing.
During the plea hearing, Broome said Gulfport police obtained video surveillance footage from nearby businesses on Highway 49 and traced the license plate on Weston’s vehicle back to him. When Weston was identified as the driver by police, he turned himself in.
At first, Broome said, Weston admitted being in an accident but denied hitting Parker. He ultimately admitted what he had done and how he had failed to stop and render any aid to Parker.
After the plea hearing, Weston left the courtroom, but a couple of those who were with him walked over to the Parker family to tell them they were sorry for what had happened to their loved one.
The prosecutor said the Parker’s family plans to share how their loved one’s death impacted them at the sentencing hearing.
In addition to facing a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, Weston could have to pay fines of up to $10,000 plus court costs and a payment to the Crime Victim Compensation Fund.
