Two Como men found guilty in crash that killed unborn child

Published 9:43 am Friday, July 25, 2025

Two Como men will spend about 20 years in prison after being found guilty Wednesday of causing a wreck that claimed the life of an unborn child.

It took the Lafayette County jury about two and a half hours to find Meko Lamar, 22, and Tyler Hammond, 22, both of Como, guilty of two charges of fleeing to elude causing injury and fleeing to elude causing death.

During the two-day trial, District Attorney Ben Creekmore and Assistant District Attorney Honey Ussery presented evidence that on March 6 at about 3:12 a.m., the Oxford Police Department had attempted to pull over Hammond on West Jackson Avenue for reckless driving. Hammond failed to stop but did slow down until Lamar pulled up near Hammond and the two then hit the gas and attempted to flee the officer who had their blue lights flashing.

It was determined that the two men were driving about 116 mph when Lamar’s vehicle crashed into the victim’s car, which was attempting to turn onto West Jackson Avenue.

The woman was 23 weeks pregnant at the time of the crash. After being taken to the hospital, the victim learned that her unborn child had died.

While only one vehicle crashed into the victim’s car, the jury found that the two men acted “in concert” and were both responsible for the wreck since they were driving recklessly while attempting to flee from law enforcement with regard to public safety.

Lamar and Hammond did not testify at the trial. Their defense attorneys, Keveon Taylor and Brennan Horan, respectively, rested their cases without putting any witnesses on the stand.

After the jury handed over its ruling, Circuit Court Judge Kent Smith sentenced the two men to 20 years each on count 1 (causing injury) and 40 years each on count 2 (causing death). However, he suspended 20 years of the second count’s sentence and then ran the two sentences concurrently, leaving Lamar and Hammond to serve 20 years in prison. After they are released, they will be on five years of supervised parole.