Body found, pulled from Lake Hazle

A morning walker around Lake Hazle in Hazlehurst, Miss. discovered what she thought could be a body floating in the upper erosion control portion of the lake this morning.  Police arrived shortly after and confirmed her suspicions.  A few minutes later, Copiah County Coroner Ellis Stuart, along with personnel from Copiah County Emergency Management and officers and investigators with Hazlehurst Police Department arrived and retrieved the body from the lake, located just west of Caldwell Drive north of Hardy Wilson Memorial Hospital on Magnolia Street.

Hazlehurst police chief Byron Swilley confirmed that the body was that of Thomas Charles “Dog” Harris, age 52, who is “well known around the area.” 

“We think he was walking around the lake and probably suffered one and fell in the water,” Swilley said.

Terry Channell, Jr., an employee of a local heating and air conditioning company, said that he had just seen Harris walking on West Whitworth Street just yesterday evening.  “My co-workers and I would see him walking all around this area.  He didn’t stay in one place very long,” Channell said.  Harris was even found unconscious on the Lake Hazle bridge just last week after suffering a seizure, Channell said.

Harris’ body was transported to Brandon for an autopsy, Swilley said, but he and the other law enforcement officers at the scene did not believe any foul play happened in Harris death.