Two cops die, two injured in road accident during pursuit of suspects
Published:Monday | September 16, 2024 | 8:39 AM
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is in mourning today following the tragic deaths yesterday evening of two of its members in a motor vehicle accident while in pursuit of suspects in Clarendon.
Two other police personnel were injured during the incident.
According to police reports, the four law enforcement officers were responding to an assignment where three suspects on a motorcycle were seen along the York Town Main Road.
On reaching a section of the York Town Main Road, the police service vehicle in which they were travelling “picked up a skid” and the driver lost control. The vehicle overturned in a ditch on the right hand side of the road, heading towards May Pen. The injured police personnel were assisted by other members from the Area 3 police to the May Pen Hospital where Constables Jessica West and Shawn Atkins were pronounced dead.
The other two police personnel were last night in serious but stable condition.
Reacting to news of the tragic accident last night,
Dr Lucien Jones, vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council, said: “Trying to process this tragedy in the context of general lawlessness causing mayhem and now those trying to uphold the law crash and die in that pursuit. Tough times for the police force and families. And for us in road safety as at the end of the day the reality is that tonight we are grieving because two more persons have died on the nation’s roads.”
So far for the year there have been 265 deaths on the nation’s roads, with 18 recorded to date in September.