Saucier man who lost firefighter son to cancer dies in Harrison County crash

A Saucier man died last week after colliding with another vehicle in Harrison County.

Mississippi Highway Patrol reports that 67-year-old Rickey Latch of Saucier was traveling north on Highway 67 in his 2021 Toyota 4 Runner on Thursday when he collided with a 1995 Mack 600 dump truck driven by Roy Smith, 50, of Biloxi.

Smith was traveling east on East Wortham Road when the vehicles collided.

Latch received fatal injuries in the crash, which is under investigation by the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

Latch was in a similar incident in 2015, when an 18-wheeler ran a stop sign and hit Latch’s pickup. In addition to an eye injury and a blood clot in his leg, Latch suffered from traumatic brain injury as a result of a blunt force trauma from the impact.

Latch became an advocate for those suffering from traumatic brain injury as he recovered.

He also was the father of Pascagoula firefighter Capt. Jacob Latch, who died just two weeks after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in October 2021.

His friends and family at Coast Life Church mourned his passing in a social media post:

“Please pray for comfort for his dear wife Jennifer, his children and his extended family as they move through these very difficult days.

“Rickey was well known and much loved all across the coast and beyond and he will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him, not least by we his church family among whom he and Jen were two of the very first.”