OXFORD, Miss. — “I didn’t die in an automobile accident. I was the one that survived it,” said Arlene Barnum in a video hours after she was pulled from wreckage along Hwy 6 in Lafayette County.
She survived, but the driver, Anthony Hervey, died after speaking at a Confederate flag rally.
Both supported the southern symbol.
On the way back, Barnum said Hervey noticed a group of men following them in a silver car.
“I heard him say, ‘Hell no!’ And he sped up. And this car came up on the passenger side to run him off the road,” she said.
Barnum said they were forced off the road, and their SUV flipped.
Hervey was unconscious.
Trapped in the car, Barnum posted to Facebook for help.
“I thought I really was going to die,” she said.
Retired Oxford Police Officer Wes Patrick knew Hervey personally.
“I used to run across Anthony and just have good conversations with him all the time,” said Patrick.
But not everyone agreed with his views.
“There were some people who didn’t like him, because he was an African American man who would come up to the square and sit here in a Confederate uniform,” he said.
Mississippi Highway Patrol haven’t confirmed whether someone was chasing Hervey, but Barnum said there was no doubt in her mind he was targeted.
“This is the only time that I feel safe telling, let me say the word, the [expletive] truth!” she said.