By Jeremy Weldon

Sardis police officer Alex Aikens remains hospitalized at Regional One Health Medical Center in Memphis following a Monday evening wreck that left him with broken bones and contusions and took the life of a Panola County woman.

Aikens had surgeries on Tuesday and Wednesday. He is expected to fully recover. Killed was 32-year-old Ericka Hughes, a mother of four. The officer was in pursuit of a motorcycle being driven at a high rate of speed.

Sardis Police Chief Steve McLarty said the Mississippi Highway Patrol took charge of the accident, and he is waiting for those findings to be released before making any official statement about the accident.

“It’s a very tragic situation and we are praying for all involved,” McLarty said. He confirmed that Officer Aikens has been a Sardis policeman for about two years.

Hughes was a graduate of North Panola High School and was employed at AT&T and Dollar Tree in Batesville.

McLarty confirmed the patrol car Aikens was driving was equipped with a dash cam, but said he doesn’t know whether footage of the crash was recorded. “The Sardis Police Department did not touch the patrol car after the accident and is allowing MHP to do its job,” he said. “I’m waiting on their report like everyone else.”

The few facts that McLarty was able to release confirm that Aikens alerted dispatchers he was in pursuit of a speeding motorcycle at 8:06 p.m. Less than two minutes later the crash happened on Main Street about a half-mile west of I-55 along the busiest stretch of roadway in Sardis.

Witnesses to the accident described the crash as “horrific” and said debris from the vehicles involved was scattered across all four lanes of the street. MHP investigators spent time in Sardis Tuesday reconstructing the events that led to the fatality.

McLarty has been asked to release a copy of the department’s chase policy by several media outlets, and said he will also make that information available after the MHP report is released.

McLarty said his department has an ongoing investigation trying to identify the motorcycle operator and have received several leads. “Anyone that has information about the motorcycle needs to call and let us know,” he said.

McLarty has been asked to release a copy of the department’s chase policy by several media outlets, and said he will also make that information available after the MHP report is released.

Tips can be called in to the Sardis Police Department at 487-1383.