Accident’s truth must be told

| 09/05/2017 | 68 Comments

Cayman News Service101 writes: The tragic car accident that occurred last week requires an independent enquiry into the events. Thus far we have been exposed to an immediate official (very strong) statement from the RCIPS that we, as a community, are expected to fully accept (as we normally do) without question.

Most within the community also seem to support the concern for the officer involved and have rightly criticised any action to harm him or threaten his family, given what he has already been through and is still experiencing.

All good, decent stuff.

But none of this should deter us from looking into what actually occurred on that evening. We can still care about the officer, we can still declare his actions (whatever those are found to be by the investigation) fully legal and within the protocols of the RCIPS while simultaneously determining exactly what happened on that evening. This independent review should not be guided or managed in any way by the RCIPS.

That truth may have reputational (even if not legal) consequences for the RCIPS. But that’s not good enough reason to dodge it.

The RCIPS, like any other individual or organisation, also cares about its reputation. Therefore, even if the RCIPS followed its protocols perfectly, it knows that any perception that persons lost their life because of the alleged ‘chase’ and/or alleged ‘enforcement actions relating to conch’ would be an absolute disaster purely from a public relations perspective. Therefore, the RCIPS is directly conflicted in this case.

In this community and others around the world we are so overwhelmed by our sympathy for those that put their lives on the line for us, such as the police and emergency services, that we sometimes forget that they too are imperfect like us and they too are subject to certain rules, principles, etc.

If they are found to not follow those rules, then they can actually cause harm to us rather than defending or rescuing us. For that reason they too must be held accountable for their actions.

And calling for accountability does not mean we don’t respect or honour them. It’s a simple fact of life that they are no less accountable than any of us. A teacher is one of the most noble and respected professions anywhere in the world, but teachers are not allowed to abuse their students because there are rules governing how they do their job and they must be accountable.

In this case, no one should suggest before a proper enquiry is made that the officer did anything wrong. The point is he may not have done anything wrong at all and still the RCIPS, as a body, may have to answer to us as a community for what occurred.

We trust services like the RCIPS to protect us. The operative word here is ‘trust’. And for our trust to be maintained, we must now hear independently what actually occurred on that fateful night. We need the truth.

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Comments (68)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    If I may add my two cents worth, why on the face of this earth would this guy be driving fast enough, with illegal conch and two people including a child in his trunk, to kill himself and three innocent motorists IF THE POLICE WERE NOT CHASING HIM???

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    • Anonymous says:

      Perhaps because he had illegal conch and two people including a child in his trunk?

      The driver knew he was a whole heap of illegal. And as soon as he saw a police car he assumed it was an officer out to get him who knew he had a car full of illegal conch and he floored it? And the sad thing is the officer had no idea about the conch. He was just about to end his shift and go home.

      If the driver of the vehicle loaded with conch had just kept within the speed limit and had his passengers in seats in the car then the police probably wouldn’t have taken notice of him, he wouldn’t have crashed, and four people would still be alive today.,

    • Anonymous says:

      Pretty easy to answer that one bobo.
      1. People drive fast enough to kill a carload of INNOCENT people hundreds or thousands of times every single day, with no police in persuit.
      2. Say you are driving with your momma and granny in the trunk (open this time say). Police spot you and in an effort to cut down the numbers of numbskulls driving with their mommas and grannies in their trunk (the ones who they can see at least) turn on their lights to stop you. You being the reasonable, sensible, educated, polite member of society that you are, floor it and immediately smash into a car with 3 INNOCENT people and kill them all. And accidentally kill yourself in the process.

      I can think of a lot more, but if this doesn’t help, I have to think you don’t really want an answer.

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  2. C donkey says:

    I just love you donkey East Enders just want to blame the police.
    It’s very simple,
    Man driving car, with 2 persons in the trunk, also with conch, all illegal.
    Man speeding looses control on a corner and hits another vehicle killing 3 tourists and injuring the 2 in the trunk.

    Simple investigation done for you, the man was breaking the law. If he saw a police car with lights on, he should have pulled over, oh wait he had taken conch out of season and had people in the trunk!

    What I want to know, was the driver a Caymanian, did he have a valid drivers license, was he on a permit, did the car have insurance?

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  3. Richard Wadd says:

    If my recollection serves me, RCIPS vehicles with Radar are also equipped with cameras. If this is the case, then (hopefully) there should be video evidence of this incident, and this will either support or refute the RCIPS version of events.
    In any case the blame is solely that of the persons (all three) who in the course of their illegal & possibly criminal activities chose to ‘flee’ from an RCIP officer doing the job that they are tasked with performing.
    The outcome is sad, and the punishment MUST be SEVERE so as to send a strong message to civilians who choose to flee from law enforcement.

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    • Caymanian says:

      The punishment was VERY SEVERE….He lost his life….Not sure our legal system can send a more clear message than that…

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  4. Anonymous says:

    101, the police statement came out far too quickly to have been manufactured and events seem to pretty much be as laid out here on CNS and other news outlets…at least according to someone I know who witnessed this tragedy. You cannot explain why you want an investigation..you just do, and that is not a reason, however well intended. Forget the marl road crap, this place is full of it and some of you fall for it every time. What happened is pretty clear…this is not Tempura or similar.

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  5. Veritas says:

    There always has been an inate hostility amongst Caymanians towards the police as it is composed largely of expatriates.We hear constant complaints that not enough Caymanians are in the force. In today’s Compass an article announced 6 “locals” had just qaulified to join the police. How many of these are of Caymanian parentage as opposed to status holders or permanent residents?.

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    • Anonymous says:

      From what I see, some but by no means all Caymanians are the first to complain about everything under the sun and the last to do anything about it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Why should it matter who the parents are, who were your ancestors?
      Let me think.
      Oh yes, they’re either, British, Jamaican, Honduran or some other nationalality that doesn’t constitute the descriptive term, ‘Caymanian’. Or, perhaps like most ‘Caymanians’ you’re a mixture of every immigrant nationality that has landed on these shores since the 1700’s.
      Stop being a racist bigot and accept that Caymanians are already a mixed race and nationality peoples who have come together on the Cayman Islands. And compared to most, have succeeded in living in relative peace and harmony.

      Of course, if you can’t stand the thought of ‘foreigners’ being your police officers, get off your lazy asses and do it your damn self.

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      • Anonymous says:

        4:23am, just as a matter of accuracy and transparency; there are many Caymanians who applied to become Police Officers. They were declined, not given a chance.

        Remember that when you try to generalize about “us” and “them”.

        Let me tell you what I am, literally; native Caymanian. Mother born here and her parents and their parents were too.

        Father born here, his parents and their parents too.

        I know what I am; Aristocracy (British) mixed with slavery (African). I have no problem admitting the truth.

        Why don’t you tell us a little about what mix you are? Lets all share and learn from each other.

  6. Inspector Clouseau says:

    I dont know if the author is related to the family of the deceased or not but i’ll throw this out there.

    The person who we should be holding accountable for the deaths of 4 people is now dead. Who should also be responsible passengers in his vehicle, is dead. I dont know why he chose to let an 11yr old child sit in the trunk of the car knowing that trunk space isn’t designed for passengers in the first place.

    I dont have all the details that surrounded the incident and i dont even the family does “unless” we have some creditable witnesses. The drivers actions in the accord we not of a responsible person at all. Poaching and allowing the child to ride in trunk.

    I don’t think we would any honest answers from those that survived that horrific accident but it is plausible that the police didn’t give chase to the speeding accord. (Anything above the speed limit is speeding).

    In a society where there is a social breakdown and lawless behavior people tend cast blame the police for everything.

    In my personal opinion, I don’t think the police did give chase like some may say and driver of the accord was fully at fault.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Gossip, gossip, island gossip!! People like to believe what they want to hear.
    The ONLY guilty person was the driver of the vehicle that took the lives of not just his own, but of those poor innocent people also. If that driver wasn’t speeding the Police car wouldn’t have turned around in the first place. Think of that!! The offending driver thought he was a Formula 1 driver and tried to out run the Police. Evidently, he wasn’t and this is the result. The RCIPS can never seem to satisfy anyone. They can never do right in some people’s eyes. Just like the comments that are posted by certain individuals that “where are the Police when all these robberies and shootings are taking place?” Well, residents, here the Police are now and all people are doing is criticising the actions that they are being paid to do. Albeit tragic as it was. The guy was speeding!! He could have still killed those people whether the police vehicle was in pursuit or not.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    This happened at night. They were out on a boat. HOW did they see a police watching them from shore??? And if that is the case, why would the police wait until they got in a car to approach them? It would be much easier to meet them when they came in. If they were indeed on a boat, they would have had plenty of opportunity to check them out when they made it back to shore.
    The kids story makes no sense. Something is missing in the story. Very incomplete.

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    • Sharkey says:

      So 101 your investigation is over now , are you satisfied with the findings ? Or do we have to do another investigation .

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    • Dave says:

      The accident happened at 7.15pm – hardly the night. Get your facts right.

    • Caymanian says:

      And even though they came ashore they packed the car and argued probably over being wet when he made the two sit in the trunk before moving off. The whole police watching them sounds conchy if you ask me. Someone might have been but not the Police who was at the scene of accident. Someone might have seen them but was not the cop car.

  9. Soiled Son says:

    In an earlier comment I wrote that an investigation would be a good idea. I received some thumbs down. No problem… Ultimately, it is important that any time there is a death “involving” the police, some sort of investigation needs to be carried out. In this case it appears highly unlikely that the police were in any way at fault – but there are many cases out there where the police have been at fault, acted unreasonably, which resulted in a person’s death. It’s a lot easier to make it policy that any time there is a death that involves the police to be investigated then to pick and choose which deaths will or will not be investigated. That’s all.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    So I assume you are eluding to some of the event versions where police apparently gave chase, causing the guy with two people in the trunk (one a minor!) to speed.

    IF police did give chase, are you saying they shouldn’t have? Does this mean police should never give chase because there is always the risk of someone getting hurt?

    So basically, RCIP should not do their job then.

    What happened to society is so sad – long gone are the days where anyone was actually held responsible for their own action/inaction. It is always Government or RCIP who are at fault or some hard-knock story that is used to excuse criminal/reckless/ignorant/inconsiderate behavior.

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    • Soiled Son says:

      The problem with this island is that there are far too many stupid people who lack the capacity to understand what they read. You Sir/Madam are a prime example. 101 says nothing of the sort. At no point did 101 claim that he police chased and/or should not have chased. I suggest that you re-read the commentary. By the way, to “elude” means to evade or to escape. The word you are looking for is “allude”.

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      • Fred says:

        But 101 says he wants an enquiry to find out “what actually happened “. Given that the police have provided a statement on what happened, to find out what “actually happened” assumes from the get go that the police explanation is false.

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        • Soiled Son says:

          Fred, I can only speculate what 101 meant, but I think “what actually happened” refers to exactly that – establishing exactly what happened. At present we have an explanation from the RCIPS and another from the marl road. Until there is an investigation, we really don’t know what happened.

          For the most part, 101 argues that everyone has to be held accountable, if at fault, including the police. He’s not saying that in this particular case the police are at fault – if you note, at the end of the viewpoint, 101 states, “In this case, no one should suggest before a proper enquiry is made that the officer did anything wrong. The point is he may not have done anything wrong at all…” Ultimately all 101 argues, as I do, that there is a need to look into it, to see whether the police followed all protocols. Nobody is suggesting that the criminal is not at fault – he is very much at fault and ultimately responsible for the 3 deaths. However, if you were family of the 3 people who were killed, would you not want to know if the police followed procedures?

    • Anonymous says:

      It’s called discretion.

      If you are an officer, then discretion is vital!

      Please tell me you understand what this means??

      What your post implies is that even if an 11 year old has to die to prove that police officers are “doing their job”, it’s ok. In this case, the 11 year old was lucky; the elderly tourists, not so much. RIP to all lost.

      Hope that people will start to understand that being a police officer is more than just seeing and responding; it’s HOW you choose to respond that truly defines what type of officer you are. I put equal blame on the driver of the Honda as I do on the officer who chased them; yes, he chased.

      A decision he has to live with forever now…

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  11. Anonymous says:

    If you want an investigation then bring your money. But I think all sensible law abiding citizens have all the facts they need. One idiot was breaking the law and he killed 4 people because of his own actions.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    What everyone seems to miss, is that an 11 year old boy was one of the passengers in the trunk of the car . That he started speeding so fast he had to cut cross the other side of the street to hit the oncoming car. How fast was he speeding? Why aren’t the family of the 11 year old upset about HIS actions? He wasn’t a very good person to risk the lives of everyone who was with him. He alone is the reason that 4 people are dead.
    If the police chase you and flash lights and sirens you must stop. There should be a fine and jail sentence for not stopping.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    What happened was that an unlicensed and uninsured idiot drove to fast and killed 4 people.
    Putting all rumors aside. This is what happened.
    And as long as we dont have a police officer on every corner of the street it will continue to happen.
    Nobody sticks with the law if ot is nit enforced.

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    • Sharkey says:

      I think that if 101 had signed her or his name to the article / opinion we would understand why there’s a need for a private investigation.
      But until then we will trust the Police and what the Police says.

      Do we stop and realize that when we have people living in society that believes that they can do no wrong, and believes that the Police has no rights to do their job, who believe that they should take matters and settle them their way before knowing who is at fault . Those kind of people are scary to have living in any society .

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Please not another investigation

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    • Anonymous says:

      The funds would be better used trying to ensure that every illegally driving Accord or Civic was pulled permanently from the roads. So much criminality would then end.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    For someone asking for trust you don’t seem to have any for the police. We do. Any reason at all why anyone should trust you over the police? In case you have already forgotten they (he) was attacked and the driver of the car was breaking just a few laws on his way to Killing three other persons. If this is about you choosing sides..good for you. Not everyone is cut out to be a good guy.

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  16. Sharkey says:

    I would say that we should ask a few questions before any investigation is done . Do we have a right to violate Laws without consiquence ? What is the Police Officer job ? Should we expect to do a crime and run from the Law ? Once those and more like questions are asked , we can get a chance to understand who are really at fault for this horrific accident. But a independent investigation, who would pick the investigating team ? We should be very careful with that . The innacient one could really suffer for the guilty one .

    When I put 2 and 2 together from hearing so far from what the Police Department has said, and what the Mother of the 11 year has commented on what her 11 year son said , I have to wonder who is asking for a private investigation . I would say leave it to the Coroner and the accident reconstruction team .

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    • Caymanian says:

      Sry brain freeze. Why would we ask any of these questions when everyone ALREADY has a logical answer to them.

      We have one idiot who killed himself and 3 other innocent people. We have two shaken survivors. The police are not at fault only the stupid driver. Case closed.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    Fully agree.

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  18. Anonymous says:

    Who runs from a Police car with lights flashing? Not any law abiding citizen.

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Agreed. There are many in the Eastern districts who claim they “saw” the chase and the unfortunate events that unfolded that nigh were not as the RCIPS claim. Regardless of any fault the truth needs to be outed or mistrust will continue to breed.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Where did they “see” the chase from? Their porches?

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    • Anonymous says:

      If there was a chase (and I highly doubt it) did these supposed witnesses call 9-1-1 then and there to report what they saw? Surely if they called they would have mentioned witnessing a “chase” in addition to reporting the crash.

      Aren’t 9-1-1 calls recorded? Surely someone called 9-1-1, even if only the police officer calling it in by radio. Otherwise 9-1-1 never would have known to send the ambulances. So what do the recordings say?

      If any calls made at the time of the crash include reports of a chase then an independent investigation is warranted. If calls made at the time do not mention a chase then it is reasonable to assume given the circumstances that no chase occurred.

      • Anonymous says:

        In the immediate aftermath of the accident, the very first report (I think here on CNS but could have been Compass or Cayman27) stated that a fireman attending had said on an anonymous basis that the police were chasing the culprits car just before the accident occurred. This was long before the police or anyone else made any comment, when the article was updated with the police account instead.

        • Anonymous says:

          What you talking about 8.58pm? For a start, this “fireman” that attended this accident would not have been on the scene before the Police Officer and MAY not have been before the ambulance either. Why has he remained anonymous you may ask as he could well be a vital witness. Yes, we are all aware that the Police Officer turned around to go after the offending driver but I can assure you the officer was not the idiot that killed these people and certainly wasn’t the cause of this tragedy either. Don’t forget, the officer was travelling in the opposite direction of this vehicle and his speed gun picked up this reckless drivers high speed. What did you expect this officer to do? Give this idiot a little wave and wish him a good evening! This officer didn’t turn around because this guy was doinh just 40 in a 30!! The speed in itself plus the fact that two people were sitting in the trunk illegally would have necitated the vehicle to be stopped. Don’t worry good people of Cayman, every fatality on this island is investigated in the correct manner. We have highly trained officers from the UK leading this Force no stone will go unturned.
          As for the “criminal” that vandalised this officers vehicle, you should be ashamed of yourself!! If anyone felt they needed to seek revenge it should have been the family of the tourists to the idiot that killed their beloved family.

    • Caymanian says:

      Lies

  20. Anonymous says:

    This is a misguided VP. It doesn’t matter if the Police suspected poaching, speeding, or riding in a trunk, they were in the right to give chase. Especially so if the driver kept going after seeing the blue light. As it turned out, the driver broke several laws. End of story.

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    • frangipani says:

      having the right to do something and acting responsibly when using that right go hand in hand

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Run from the Police…suffer the consequences. It doesn’t matter exactly when the lights were turned on or exactly when the Police started to give chase. They were doing their job. It is very sad and unfortunate that the driver lost control of his vehicle and died, but don’t try to shift responsibility. Thank you RCIP for fighting this uphill battle against lawlessness. The public needs to learn to respect the laws of the Cayman Islands.

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    • Anonymous says:

      This comment is no doubt well intentioned and I agree with the sentiment that the police are entitled to chase lawbreakers and do their job. However, the really sad part is that three elderly holidaymakers from the U.K. were killed. They did absolutely nothing wrong and are now dead. The people bleating for an investigation don’t care about their deaths. Instead they prefer to focus on the death of their Jamaican brother. The individual who broke the law and killed them in doing so.

  22. Anonymous says:

    101 may dig deep for whatever truth they are seeking , but some truths are plainly visible. & already acknowledged. From what I have read that relates to the incident & nothing more or less would read something like this : A motorist broke the road law by speeding. Their choice to continue breaking the law ( by continuing speeding ,to operate a vehicle unsafely) resulted in a tragic accident.
    There was a failure to acknowledge and recognize by this individual, the risks that were being taken .This failure resulted in the loss of lives, including their own. There were some choices to consider, but of those choices available , the wrong choice was made , despite a selection of correct choices that were on the table. I trust that these facts will no doubt be considered in any review or inquiry of the events of the evening in question.

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  23. Anonymous says:

    Hear, hear!

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  24. Anonymous says:

    Boy’s story vs police officer story. Be realistic Who do you think will win?

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    • Anonymous says:

      The boy is going to repeat what the adults tell him to say. How much will he have seen from the trunk of a small speeding car….?

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  25. Anonymous says:

    Don’t see any need for a special investigation of the police. Investigate the accident.

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  26. Anonymous says:

    Definitely. Something is not quite right with this incident . But don’t hokd your breath 101

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  27. Anonymous says:

    No! Not any expensive independent enquiry. Remember the missing boaters!!

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  28. Soiled Son says:

    An excellent article and argument. In many western democracies any time that a death occurs “involving” (I use the term very loosely) the police, an investigation takes place. It is true that the police must be held at a high standard and accountable if they do not follow protocols or the law. In this case, it does not make sense that the officer was in any way guilty – what most likely happened is that the Jamaican driver continued to drive away at a high rate of speed (possibly a higher rate of speed) once the police officer passed him. But then again, who am I to pass judgement – judgement must be passed by professionals once an investigation has occurred. Until then, there is no reason to suspect that the officer did anything wrong.

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  29. Anonymous says:

    No, it’s time to stop making excuses for criminals. They broke the law and innocent people paid for it. Caymanians always blame everyone else and have no accountability. Time to stop wasting government money on criminals.

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  30. Caymanian says:

    Here would be my point on this…..

    WHY?

    What is the worst case scenario here? Do we believe a massive chase ensued? Does this in anyway deflect blame from the driver of the Honda? The answer is no.

    What we need to start doing is to stop attacking our police when they are doing their duty and start attacking our family members for being plane a@@s to this Island. 4 people lost their lives over what? Conchs? A slap on the wrist!! A small fine!! Come on people stop digging sh!t up when the real matter is why did the driver need to be speeding to begin with.

    An investigation into the matter would suggest that there is a thought that the police did something wrong. The only scenarios where the Police could have done something wrong would be:

    1. The Police ran the car off causing it to swerve into the oncoming car.
    2. The Police fired at the vehicle causing it to swerve into the oncoming car.

    Neither of these happened. Here’s what could have happened:

    1. The Police attempted to chase the speeding vehicle but the accident had already happened – This is the going story.
    2. The Police did turn and start to chase the vehicle and it swerved and hit the oncoming car – Slight change in that there was some pursuit.
    3. The Police were monitoring the car and it’s occupants gather illegal conchs and attempted to get them and they took off speeding and swerved into the oncoming car.

    In all 3 of these scenarios the driver is wrong and nothing should be done to the officers.

    I honestly do not know what you are hoping to find. The fact remains THE DRIVER OF THE HONDA IS 100 Million % at FAULT FOR THE WHOLE THING!!!!

    ACCEPT AND GET OVER IT!!!!

    People who say pursuing a criminal is wrong are idiots, plain and straight. Every criminal would run Police if they knew that was the rules.

    What needs to happen is a better system for cornering criminals evading police capture. That is it.

    I see no purpose for an inquiry. It only makes our cops look bad.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I would just like to restate what the above poster said:
      “People who say pursuing a criminal is wrong are idiots, plain and straight. Every criminal would run Police if they knew that was the rules.”

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  31. Anonymous says:

    There one thing missing from the article. If the police is found to have lied then that is not procedure so they need answer to that part

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    • Anonymous says:

      I just have no clue why on earth you think they may have lied??? If they had given chase they are entitled to do so. There isn’t an incentive for them to lie. Stop believing the mark road and wake up and realize three innocent people died because of one person’s foolish and selfish actions.

  32. Observer says:

    I dontnknow what you ate trying to stir but as I am told by trusted media outlets who all sings the same song, thebPolice was not in pursuit of the speeding car and this is eye witnesses that support this.

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  33. Anonymous says:

    I feel it for the families impacted by this. They would want to at least know what happened too.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I feel more for the families of the innocent tourists who died in this. And I don’t believe they have asked for any inquiry. The only people who are asking for this are the ones seeking to deflect blame and responsibility from their now-deceased countryman.

  34. Anonymous says:

    Well put. I don’t think they should do their own investigation. Other things are coming out now.

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