‘Nobody never know sey him leave’
Father of crash victim had warned him not to go out
Published:Monday | February 19, 2024 | 12:18 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer - -
WESTERN BUREAU:
It was a sombre atmosphere at the Falmouth, Trelawny, home of 25-year-old Jason Reid, one of four men who died in a two-vehicle crash in the parish early Sunday morning, as his relatives sought to rein in their emotions hours after his untimely passing.
Reid, a lifeguard by profession, died along with 23-year-old fisherman Kimani Thompson and 24-year-old photographer Andre Gonzales, also of Falmouth addresses, and 24-year-old Marco Williams of Pimento Walk in Ocho Rios, St Ann, when the Toyota Mark X motor car they were travelling in collided with an Audi Q3 motor car at the intersection of the Daniel Town main road and the North Coast Highway in Trelawny.
The Gleaner spoke with Reid’s father, Junior Reid, who tried to maintain his composure as he recounted getting the fateful call about the crash that would claim his son’s life.
“Mi deh home in the before-day, and we get a call sey accident out at the stoplight, and him [Jason Reid] in the accident. We rush go over to the hospital, and the doctors were dealing with him, but him did have internal bleeding,” the senior Reid outlined.
“They hooked him up, and him did a breathe and everything, and them a suck out the blood that full up his mouth. They were going to transfer him to a hospital in Montego Bay, but he never made it,” Reid added.
According to police reports, sometime around 2:32 a.m. on Sunday morning, Reid, Thompson, Gonzales, and Williams were travelling in the Toyota Mark X towards Falmouth when the car collided with the Audi Q3, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
The injured persons were rushed to hospital where Reid, Thompson, Gonzales, and Williams were later pronounced dead and the other two persons, a man and a woman, were admitted in stable condition.
Up to 12:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, remnants of the crash’s impact could still be seen at the intersection, with skid marks, a damaged guardrail, and dislodged motor vehicle parts telling the tale of what had transpired hours earlier.
The visible damage matched the previous report from Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Gary McKenzie, the head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch, indicating that the Mark X crashed into the guardrails along the roadway and sustained significant damage.
“The nature of the damage would suggest that the speed was above 50 kilometres per hour, so the investigation as well as the reconstruction of the crash will determine the exact range or specific speeds of the vehicles,” McKenzie told The Gleaner at the time, adding that the speed limit heading towards the intersection is about 50 kilometres per hour.
Meanwhile, in a bitter twist of irony, Junior Reid recalled how just one day before his son’s tragic end, he had warned Jason not to go out to places unnecessarily.
“Is yesterday [Saturday] I talk to him. Yesterday morning I see him when him leave out to go to work. Mi all a tell him, ‘When you come from work, nuh care who call you, nuh lef di yard go back out. When you leave work, go where you go and come back,’” the elder Reid recalled.
“Nobody never know sey him leave, because we check sey him did inside. Him deh at him yard every night, and him will only go out with friends go party. It was supposed to be a party dem was coming from, some club or something (at the time of the accident),” he added.
At present, the father said, the rest of the family is still coming to grips with the death of Jason, who was the second of eight children for his parents.
“Dem a gwaan hold dem tension. Di mother nah tek it so well, but everybody else a hold dem tension,” said Reid. “He (Jason) was cool, quiet, and everything, and him friendly, and everything, and him was into water-sports.”