Staff Reports
The mayor of the town of Melville, Louisiana, Velma Hendrix, was killed in a car crash that occurred just hours before the polls closed on Election Day.
The passenger in the car, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was the only person who died in the accident. According to the Louisiana State Police, Hendrix was taken to a hospital, where she eventually succumbed to her injuries.
The driver of the pickup truck that was involved in the crash survived. According to law enforcers, he had no signs of impairment and was not intoxicated. They also cited him for failing to yield from a stop sign and for driving without a seatbelt.
As the Louisiana State Police explained:
According to the initial investigation, the pickup truck, which was driven by Michael Cook, was traveling south on LA 741. As the driver of the car, which was a 2008 Acura RDX, approached the intersection at US 190, he failed to yield to oncoming traffic. The front of the truck then hit the passenger side of the car.
Melville’s clerk announced that a qualifying period will be reopened through Monday due to Hendrix’s “untimely passing.”
As CBS News reported:
If no other candidate files before the qualifying period closes on Monday, the town's next mayor will be chosen based on the number of votes that the candidate received on Election Day. A new election will be conducted on Dec. 10 if another candidate files an application.
According to the election results, which were released by the state, Sheila Londerno was the winner of the race for mayor. She received 52% of the votes, while Caretta Robertson came in second with 48%. Although both of the candidates are Democrats, it is not clear if Hendrix would have won if she had been able to get enough votes.
Hendrix had been the mayor of Melville, a small town with roughly 1,000 residents, since 2018.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on BREITBART.
