One killed in crash after police chase

| 16/01/2021 | 33 Comments
Cayman News Service
Scene of fatal crash on 16 January 2021

(CNS): UPDATED Saturday 2:30pm: One person has died following a serious crash in West Bay early Saturday morning. Police finally confirmed the details Saturday afternoon, revealing that a 24-year-old man had been killed and two other people were in hospital with serious injuries after the collision, which happened shortly after police had abandoned a chase of the car involved.

According to an RCIPS release, at around 12:15am on Saturday a green Honda Accord drove through a checkpoint on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway near the Yacht Club roundabout, ignoring officers’ instructions to stop.

Police in a patrol vehicle activated blue lights and sirens and followed the car at what they said was a safe distance. But the officers in the police vehicle lost sight of the Honda and returned to the checkpoint.

At about 12:20am a report was made to 911 about a single-vehicle collision on the West Bay Road at the junction of Willie Farrington Drive. It involved the same car, which had collided with a house opposite Foster’s Republix.

Police and Emergency services attended the location and three occupants of the vehicle were taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital. According to witnesses posting on social media, the police were on the scene within seconds of the collision, despite RCIPS claims that the chase had been abandoned.

When the three people who had been in the car arrived at the hospital, the 24-year-old man, who is from West Bay, was pronounced dead. The other two people remain in hospital being treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The RCIPS has not revealed the gender of the two injured individuals but CNS understands it is a man and a woman.

Police said that no one in the house was injured.

The matter is currently under investigation and anyone who may have witnessed the collision or has any information is asked to contact the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit at 649-6254. The Office of the Ombudsman is now overseeing matters in the investigation as a result of the police chase before the crash.


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  1. Anonymous says:

    I really want to know why the police don’t just sit outside the few places that people are drinking at on west bay road and just test every person leaving there in a car. A few weeks of that and people will get the message, prevention has to be better than catching someone breaking the law, no matter the cost. Drive past the brunch places on a sunday, car parks overflowing and then drive past at 7pm, empty.

  2. Anonymous says:

    For a country with a max speed limit of 50 miles per hour, why can’t people put it together that it’s not just because they want you to drive slow, it is the quality of the roads are safe to go above that limit. Always a group of young kids that get pride out of “running the police”

    • Anonymous says:

      There is NO valid reason why a double or triple lane highway is a 40 mph limit while residential, single lane in both direction roads in Northside get 50 mph limits.

      Between Yacht Club roundabout and Batabano should be a 60. I bet that’s the average speed anyways.

  3. Joe Ebanks says:

    The amount of times I have had to pull off the road as cars race each other late at night, going over a hundred miles an hour, often into the oncoming lane it is only a matter of time before there is another fatality.

    We should have zero tolerance for those who do not stop for the police. Zero. Because if we have tolerance, next weekend the same fools will go to the bars, get drunk and blast through the road block and who knows which unlucky family is going to have a loved one lost because of these ignorant, reckless people.

    Just at Christmas right by the WB fire station we saw pedestrians and cyclists get run over by DRUNK drivers, a couple or car crashes.

    I feel sorry for the drivers family as it’s a loss. But I have zero empathy for the driver and support the police for making efforts to keep our roads safe.

    We need to change the law. If you go more than 30 miles over the limit – impound the car and restrict the driver. The impound needs to be expensive $500 release fee and only after 14 days. Having no car really sucks and if you can’t afford the release fee, it will really suck. If the car is not released after 18months, the government can auction it at a minimum fee of the impound fee.

    Reckless driving should also be made a criminal charge , which only expunged after 5 years. No job and no car, should teach people to start driving responsibly.

    We have had more deaths from cars in 2020 than covid. We shut our economy and borders down for covid, yet let people drive around with impunity

  4. Anonymous says:

    A Honda? Never. I don’t believe it!

  5. Anonymous says:

    This is a guess, but it appears that now someone is dead because they thought the risk of getting caught with some drugs, or an uninsured vehicle, or an arrest warrant was worth driving through a checkpoint.

    If the police hadn’t responded they’d be getting called out. Now it appears they did respond, some idiots will blame them for someone’s lack of judgement.

    Tragic, but so avoidable.

    • Anonymous says:

      The fatality was a passenger not the driver…

      • Anonymous says:

        It doesn’t change much. The driver is responsible for the crash. Everyone is responsible for the people they choose to associate with.

        Marl road said that the driver was involved in fatal vehicular incident previously. Should that be the case, well I wouldn’t have been traveling in a vehicle with such a character.

  6. Anonymous says:

    For the purposes of anecdotal irony, lets start a new petition extending oversight of the Ombudsman to our MP’s. Surely those that the pass the laws should be accountable just as those they entrust to enforce them, – the paradox is however, the one person ombudsman we do have that ensures we are provided the tools and framework for upholding the constitution is relegated to saying I can’t tell you how to use them.

  7. anon says:

    Tragedy or not, these people were hiding something which is why they drove through the checkpoint, next thing is the police will be blamed.

  8. Anonymous says:

    When ever I see a police roadblock, I stop and let them do their job.

  9. Anonymous says:

    RIP young man ! and hopefully the survivors make a good recovery , hopefully the police are tell the truth, if they aren’t the cctv camera next to the west bay fire station should have something and it’s also a few cameras next to the scene of the accident

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh piss off. The fault here is with the driver. Nobody else. I don’t care if the police were chasing him down, or did a U turn, this is solely on the driver.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I’m sorry to say I have no sympathy whatsoever for these drivers. I hope the innocent folk who were tucked up in bed in the house that got hit are fine. Good luck getting the insurers or any payout to those folk – my house got hit 6 years ago and still waiting for the payout.

  11. I can only drive in the right hand lane says:

    All the driver of the Honda had to do was stop at the Checkpoint. Don’t blame the police for somebody who chose to break the law.

  12. Anonymous says:

    My condolences to his family. We must remember as youngsters, we all did reckless things that we would not do today. May God bless his sole and help his loved ones.

    • Anonymous says:

      Utter rubbish, reckless, and yes I did reckless things as a youth, doesn’t include speeding through a Police checkpoint. It doesn’t say if he was driving but a 24 year old is not a youngster like a 16 year old – he should have known better. What a waste.

  13. Anonymous says:

    R.I.P.
    I pray to God the other two pull through.
    Tomorrow is promised to no one!

  14. Anonymous says:

    This is a tragedy no matter how the accident occurred, this was someone’s child, parent, friend, loved one….my heart goes out to those that are mourning their passing today.

    May you find strength to help you through this terrible time And ultimately peace.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Accident outside Pirates Lair, South Sound too – 4am, single car, gone off the road and into a tree. Speed and alcohol are not a good mix!!!!

    • Anonymous says:

      They go down south sound rd at 100 mph every day and night. Cops only patrol there 2 times a year.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yep, two cars were racing on SS and one crashed when it had to back out of overtaking. Both drivers had been drinking.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Too much edats on the road that don’t know how to drive, also driving like it’s dem only on the road and don’t care about others

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