Man Crushed By Mardi Gras Float

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) - Funeral services will be held
Wednesday for Jody Compretta, a Bay St. Louis businessman and son
of a top leader in the Mississippi House, who was killed Saturday
in New Orleans during a Mardi Gras parade.
Joseph P. "Jody" Compretta Jr. was pronounced dead at the
scene after being run over by part of a float in the
Krewe of Endymion parade. The accident occurred just before the parade
disbanded near the Superdome, New Orleans police said.
Services are 2 p.m. Wednesday at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic
Church in Bay St. Louis.
Services had been planned for Christ Episcopal Church, but that
was changed because Our Lady of the Gulf can accommodate more
people.
Burial will follow in Garden of Memory Cemetery in Bay St.
Louis.
Police say the 39-year-old Compretta had been riding aboard the
Endymion captain's float when the accident occurred about 10:45
p.m. Saturday. He was on the second part of the three-part float.
Police say witnesses told investigators that riders had to
disembark from the rear float sections when it approached the
Superdome near the end of the parade route. Police say as Compretta
left the float, it lurched forward again and the third section ran
over him.
Witnesses said he was trapped beneath the massive structure,
according to police.
House Speaker Billy McCoy of Rienzi issued a statement
expressing sorrow at the state government level, saying the
Legislature is a small and close family that grieves and shares in
the hardest of times.
Compretta graduated from St. Stanislaus College Prep in 1986. He
went on to earn a degree from the University of Mississippi and
lived a number of years in Florida before returning home to Bay St.
Louis.
Compretta was owner of Patient's Choice, a medical supply
business. He was a member of the Hancock County Port and Harbor
Commission from 2004-2007.
Survivors include his wife, Maria; two children; his mother and
father; two brothers and a sister.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)