An Uber Drop-Off a Block Short Led to an Aggravated Assault Charge in Ocean Springs
An Uber passenger in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, expected to be dropped off at the Singing River Imaging Center on July 18, 2025. Police say his driver stopped roughly a block away at the Singing River Training Facility on Bienville Boulevard and told him to walk. The passenger was a veteran whom police described as disabled.
Police told WLOX that when he walked in front of the car, driver Roderick Keys nudged him with it, then struck him again and ran him over. The passenger went to Ocean Springs Singing River Hospital and was reported in stable condition that day. Authorities charged Keys with aggravated assault.
How the drop-off account developed
The Sun Herald’s July 18 report by Martha Sanchez attributes the initial account to Ocean Springs Police Chief Steven Dye and a police news release. Police responded to a report of a pedestrian run over at the Singing River Training Facility on Bienville Boulevard, and police called Keys an “unruly Uber driver,” the Sun Herald reported.
WLOX reports that authorities described an initial nudge with the car followed by a second forward movement that knocked the man down and resulted in him being run over.
The assault charge and bond
Keys was charged with one count of aggravated assault, according to both WLOX and the Sun Herald. WLOX says Judge Douglas Tynes set a $100,000 bond. The Sun Herald reported that he was being held in the Jackson County jail.
Under Mississippi’s aggravated-assault statute, § 97-3-7(2), a person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she “attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury purposely, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life” or “attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm.” The statute allows a sentence of up to 20 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
Sources: attributed police statements reported by the Sun Herald and WLOX, plus published Mississippi statutory text.
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