‘He was one of the best’

Western Bureau:

When the love of her life, 44-year-old Constable Linroy Codner, washed two loads of clothes for her on the morning of Friday, October 4, Natasha Freckleton, his common-law-wife of three and half years, could not help but be thankful that she was blessed with such a caring partner.

She didn’t know that it was going to be the last of the many acts of goodness that she had become accustomed to as, a few hours later, he was lying in a coma in hospital, allegedly struck down by a disobedient motorist while carrying out his policing duties. He died in hospital on Sunday without regaining consciousness.

“He was one of the best. No one to compare him to,” Freckleton told The Gleaner yesterday, while struggling to come to grips with Codner’s death. “We had a lot of plans, thinking we had a lot of time, but it was not to be.”

Codner, who was stationed at the Granville Police Station, also in St James, was mowed down by a motorist whose vehicle a police team was tasked to intercept. He suffered severe head and body injuries and was initially taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital but was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at the Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny.

“Constable Codner was a dedicated policeman who worked tirelessly in the Granville police area. He had served in other divisions, but at the time of his passing he was assigned to the St James Division,” said Superintendent Eron Samuels, the police commander for St James. “We are really saddened at his passing and the whole St James family mourns his death. It is unfortunate that he was struck down doing what he swore to do, which was to serve and protect Jamaica, trying to rid the streets of illegal weapons.”

According to reports, about 3 p.m. on the day of the incident, a police team, which included Codner, signalled the driver of a white Toyota Probox that was believed to be trafficking illegal firearms. However, the driver reportedly refused to stop; instead, he increased his speed.

Codner was reportedly struck by the fast-moving vehicle, which sent him flying over a precipice. He was rushed to hospital, where he was placed in intensive care in an unconscious state.

As was customary, on the day of the incident, Freckleton, who would call Codner from time to time to check on him, called his cellular phone shortly after 3 p.m. Another officer answered the phone and told her that Codner was not there. She figured that he may have left his phone at the police station to charge, so she thought nothing of it.

“However, sometimes afterwards, I heard a police siren coming towards the scheme where I live, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with me, until they pulled up near to my gate and I saw some officers walking towards my house,” said Freckleton. “I became concerned and began asking, ‘What had happened to Codner…. was he shot?’ One of the police officers told me that he was not shot, but that I needed to come with them to the hospital.”

Freckleton said when she got to the hospital, she saw the badly battered and bruised Codner in an unconscious state, with the doctors working feverishly to save his life. She broke down, crying herself into a state of not knowing where she was.

Like Freckleton, Codner’s mother, Joycelyn Codner, is deeply distressed by the death of her son, who she described as a “loving, kind, compassionate, and more than a good son” to her.

“He was an excellent son to me… he could not be better,” said Codner’s mother, who was desperately hoping that despite the severity of his injuries, he would have survived. “He was also an exceptional father to his two daughters…one is on the verge of completing high school, and the other is seven years old.”

“When I got the call from the hospital yesterday that we should come now, I told my other son that ‘your brother dead’, but he said, ‘No mama, don’t say that…I don’t believe that,’” recalled the grieving mother. “When I went to the hospital, he was on his back with his mouth open. I tried to close it, but I couldn’t. I don’t know what he wanted to say, but he is gone.”

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