Man sentenced to 15 years for drunk driving crash on Trace

A Louisiana man was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to drunk driving charges after a head-on collision on the Natchez Trace last March injured four people.

“I hope this case is a lesson to all individuals that if you choose to drink and drive on the roadways of Madison and Rankin county, you need to be prepared,” District Attorney John K. “Bubba” Bramlett said. “You will go to prison for a long time if people are hurt or killed as a result of your decisions.”

Bramlett announced last week that Ne’Tron Lambert, 25, of New Iberia, La., pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated driving under the influence causing injuries and was sentenced to serve 15 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections by Judge Steve Ratcliff in Madison County Circuit Court. 

The incident occurred on March 12, 2022. On that date in the early morning hours law enforcement officers with the National Park Service were called to the scene of a two-car accident on the Natchez Trace Parkway. 

According to Bramlett, investigators were able to determine that the car driven by Lambert had been traveling in the wrong lane and hit another vehicle head-on. Lambert, his three passengers, and the driver of the other vehicle all suffered significant injuries as a result of the wreck.  

Everyone was taken to UMC with one individual being airlifted from the scene. 

Officers were able to obtain toxicology results from a blood draw showing Lambert was under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana at the time of the accident. 

Investigators spoke with Lambert’s passengers, and they confirmed that they had been drinking and smoking marijuana for several hours before they left a party at about 4:45 a.m. 

Accident reconstruction reports indicated Lambert was traveling 89 miles per hour when he hit the other car head-on. 

With the approval of all four victims, Lambert was allowed to plead guilty to two counts of aggravated DUI. He was sentenced to 15 years on each count with that time to run concurrently.