No stopping for stone throwers - Motorists warned against pulling over to inspect damage to vehicles in lonely areas
Published:Sunday | January 5, 2020 | 12:00 AMCarlene Davis - Sunday Gleaner Writer
With an apparent upsurge in reports of motor vehicles being intentionally damaged by thugs while in motion, the police are warning motorists not to stop and investigate as they might be planning to rob you.
Ainsworth Morris is one of several persons who have taken to social media to warn other motorists and to document his experience.
Morris, who is a journalist, told The Sunday Gleaner that he was driving home after midnight last Tuesday when the incident happened.
“You know where there is the new bus stop on Mandela Highway coming to Kingston? As I passed the bus stop and I was making that small curve going down approaching the stoplight, I felt an impact on the car, which wasn’t me hitting something as I saw some police before and I slowed down, so I wasn’t driving fast. I heard the hit on the car and felt it but it didn’t feel like I hit something. I know how that feels with the car,” he said.
“I decided not to stop because I thought to myself, ‘maybe someone was trying to rob me’, which is the case as they usually throw something on your car and when you stop to inspect the vehicle, they come to you. I decided to stop after I went to Caymanas stoplight, and inspected the vehicle and I saw that the mirror was hit out and the side was dented.”
Morris said that it appeared that a rock was used to hit his vehicle, and this was confirmed when he visited the police station later that morning.
“The police inspected the vehicle about 9 a.m. and we found a piece of the rock in the side where the damage is,” said Morris.
‘Be alert, keep driving’
He is in talks with his insurance company to see what can be done as he had just purchased the car last April. He would like to use the opportunity to advise motorists to be alert and to keep driving.
“I was not frightened. I was very much alert and knew that I should not stop and that that area was dark. There’s no light there. So I would tell people don’t stop, drive to the nearest police station and let the police follow you back to the scene where it happened. I didn’t stop because I knew what it could have been,” said Morris.
Another social media user, on New Year’s Day, posted an image of a damaged window on Twitter and advised persons not to stop along Harbour Street in downtown Kingston, where someone had just thrown a stone in his window but he was “wise enough not to stop and instead go to the nearest police station”.
Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU), said that persons should continue coming forward to report the incidents to the police.
“I always say to persons, the biggest thing is to report them. So report them and from there, we are able to do an analysis of it and are able to treat with it,” Lindsay said.
“If you are driving on the road and it happens to you, don’t stop in a lonely place. Once the car can move, you just need to drive to the nearest police station, and report what happened. Somebody throws a stone in your vehicle and you don’t see or can’t see and it’s dark, don’t bother to stop, just drive to the nearest police station. This may be one of the cases where you just have to allow the insurance company to take care of the damage, but it’s better than to stop in a lonely area and an isolated area.”
She added: “We have gone as far as to say to persons that, even if somebody bumped your vehicle, if you can get a look at the registration plate, don’t stop in a lonely area, just drive to the police station and report it.”