Arrest Warrant Prepared For TV Personality Gary Collins For Leaving Scene Of Miss. Accident

Police in Mississippi were preparing an arrest warrant Thursday for actor and former TV host Gary Collins for leaving the scene of a car accident.

Jackson officer Colendula Green said police were waiting for a judge to sign off on the warrant. She said there’s no indication Collins was drinking when his Jeep rear-ended a Ford Focus at a stop light Tuesday afternoon in Jackson.

Collins attorney, Tom Royals, said he expects his client to face a misdemeanor charge not much more serious than a traffic violation.

“That’s reasonable,” Royals said.

Green said the 72-year-old Collins exchanged information with the other driver, but allegedly said it was taking too long for police to arrive and left. An officer went to his house and wrote him a ticket. The warrant was being prepared because the other driver pressed charges for him allegedly leaving the scene.

Royals said Collins “waited for a period of time and then left before police showed up,” though he didn’t know how long he waited.

Collins is married to Mary Anne Mobley, a former Miss America from Brandon, Miss. They spend some of the their time in the area, and Royals said they made this trip to Mississippi to handle the estate from the recent death of Mobley’s mother.

Collins was sentenced in 2007 to four days in jail over a car wreck in California. Police blamed that accident on the driver of the other car, but Collins pleaded no contest to misdemeanor driving under the influence.

Collins starred in the 1970s series “The Sixth Sense” and has made appearances on such series as “JAG,” ‘‘Yes, Dear” and “The Young and the Restless,” as well as on “The New Hollywood Squares.”

Collins hosted the talk show “Hour Magazine” in the 1980s, for which he won a daytime Emmy in 1983.