Teen killed in traffic crash
Published:Friday | March 5, 2021 | 12:08 AMRasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
Fourteen-year-old Eltham High School student Devaughn Hollingsworth was fatally hit from his bicycle along the Spanish Town Bypass in St Catherine on Wednesday, reportedly on his way to visit another pupil to get access to the Internet.
Reports are that Hollingsworth, of a Fairfield Road address in the Old Capital, was riding along the thoroughfare about 12:45 p.m., when tragedy struck.
Upon reaching the traffic signal at Job Lane, he was hit from the bicycle by a Toyota Probox motor car, sending him airborne and smashing into the windshield of a Toyota Yaris in the opposite lane as he landed.
“When the Probox hit di yute, di lick send him flying. Di car lick down a post and him body just crash pon di windshield a di Yaris,” recounted Everton Veech.
“Mi can’t believe that all dis happen, you know, as a funeral we a come from and almost dead,” an occupant the Yaris said.
The female driver of the Probox, who was visibly shaken, was transported to the hospital for medical attention.
The deceased’s mother, Charmaine Lee, had to be consoled by a friend as she went to identify her son at the Morgan’s Funeral Home in Spanish Town.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, most students are accessing lessons via the Internet as only those preparing for external exams have been cleared for in-person lessons.
Describing Hollingsworth as a promising story, Eltham High Principal Barrington Mighton said he was informed of the student’s Internet troubles by his form teacher.
He added that the school has been reaching out to the family.
“We visited the mother with two counsellors from the school, but she was too grief-stricken to speak. We are saddened by the loss of life and are working with the Ministry of Education to continue counselling of his peers and family,” Mighton said.
The accident site is said to be a hotspot for traffic tragedies.
“I think that when the traffic signals were installed four years ago, we wouldn’t have anything like this, but I guess we can’t stop everything,” Francia Mendez said.
Sergeant Donovan Barnes, who heads the St Catherine North traffic department, said that a thorough investigation is being conducted.
“We are doing our due diligence and we will be taking the appropriate steps upon completion of the investigation,” Barnes said.
Hollingsworth’s death marks the seventh road fatality in the St Catherine North Police Division since the start of the year, one more than for the comparative period last year.