Boys charged with moving digger hit by Seymour
(CNS): Three boys have been charged with a reckless and negligent act, damage to property and criminal trespass in connection with a digger that was moved and abandoned on the roadside of Anton Bodden Drive on 8 August last year. The excavator was left with its crane sticking out into the road, which Labour Minister Dwayne Seymour crashed into later that night as he was driving home to his Bodden Town constituency.
Seymour sustained a severe head injury in the resulting crash, which he recently said was an effort by someone to try to kill him. He told his colleagues in parliament that he was now scared to drive home at night.
This was not the first time the minister crashed into a stationary object after driving home late from work. In October 2022, he crashed into a CUC light pole on Shamrock Road in Prospect. However, he was not given an alcohol breath or blood test on either occasion.
After the crash last summer, there was a very public dispute over whether or not the minister had been tested by the RCIPS or the hospital, which is the normal procedure for drivers involved in a collision. In a press release about the charges against the teenagers, the RCIPS also said that an internal investigation over the testing in this case had been conducted.
“Police actions were thoroughly reviewed, and discussions with HSA colleagues have been completed,” the RCIPS said. “Both parties have agreed a process moving forward which will help define roles and responsibilities when dealing with persons that are unable to give consent to the taking of a blood specimen following a collision.
“In support of this process, the Commissioner of Police, Kurt Walton, has personally recommended changes to the Traffic Law, Section 86, which, if amended, will provide further clarity for police and medical practitioners.”
Police also said that they had carried out a full and thorough investigation of the collision and a file was submitted to the DPP. “It was returned with no charge for the man involved in the incident, who is a senior politician,” the police said, referring to Seymour.
The three juveniles charged in the case are now due to appear in court on Friday, 21 February.
Seymour spoke publicly about crashing into the excavator for the first time last Friday during his final address in parliament for this current term. The minister said he thought his vehicle was going to explode and had dived and rolled out of the car to save his own life.
“I believe someone had tried to kill me,” Seymour said, adding that he was “one inch from death”. He said that the gash on his head was so deep you could “actually climb in it”, but he had still shown up for a Cabinet meeting four days later with a bandage on his head and still bleeding.
“I did it for country because I was needed,” Seymour claimed. “What many don’t know is that I can’t go back home through the same route in the night because I’m scared,” he added, becoming emotional and wiping away tears.
CNS note: Some aspects of this article are of particular public interest, so we have left the comments open. However, no comments about the juveniles arrested will be published.
See Seymour’s final address to this parliament in CIGTV below:
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Folks in the rest of Cayman, please have some sympathy for us here in Bodden Town. Not only do we have to deal with an MP of greatly limited intellect but unlimited caloric intake of an alcoholic and non alcoholic kind but we also have to deal with feral youngsters. And we can’t get rid of any of them.
why the minister was not tested for Alcohol consumption, corruption at the highest level. Come on Cayman we can do better than that. Vote
him out for ever and ever amen.
Thank goodness Dwayne the Rock Seymour is doing ok. The country needs you Rock! The world needs you Rock! Heck even the galaxy needs you Rock! Such a noble warrior and man of the people guiding us to greener pastures. Thanks Rock!
lafonda are you insane or what ?
where is the blood test? lol
Is he also sueing the digger?
who ever said caymanians don’t do responsibility???
And the Grammy goes to JON JON, special nominee KENNETH BRYAN!
Not to mention he also gets the best foreign language category
7.48 So disrespectful.
John John’s defense, “I not see nuttin”.
Especially the 30 MPH speed limit signs and the speedometer.
Perhaps the CIG should fund an apartment in Georgetown for him to use on those occasions when he cannot drive home at night.
In this instance he was coming from a different “office”, closer to home.
Not much closer…
I believe the “office” referred to was Ever Glow.
George Town
Crying? Are you crying? There’s no crying in politics!
Oh boo hoo, no sympathy for any of you. Why did you not see it boo hoo?
Oh my goodness Honorable Jon-Jon, we so glad you is doing good, we love you. When will you be passing out the gas & grocery cards? Me wants you as the Premier.
Some people do not understand sarcasm.
It’s not that. It’s not good sarcasm, so thumbs down for you.
The fact he now doesn’t drive at night should be a relief for anyone on the road (and stationary objects).
Any sober driver doing the speed limit would have noticed the excavator in the road.
Lucky to get away with it as well.
3.07 Any sober person should have read and understood that only the excavator crane was sticking out into the road. (Take a look at the picture with this article…)
An excavator and a crane are two different machines.
The excavator arm and pneumatic hammer are extended onto the road.
Making excuses for this turd puts you in the same category.
Turd
The missing breath test or blood sample would only serve to confirm a civil traffic offense of DUI. Voters need to lobby their MPs (maybe not Seymour) to change the Traffic Law and Traffic Regulations to criminalize this ritual. The Standards in Public Life Law should be amended to disqualify all those convicted of a serious offense or breach of public trust (including assault, drug offenses, rape, financial malfeasance and crimes). Not sure who would be left!
I am no lawyer but surely there is an element of contributory negligence here. OK – for the sake of this argument lets assume the digger was placed there by a criminal act. Is that enough to absolve this particular minister for crashing into it? “Would a reasonable person, in all of the circumstances, not see [a mother Fn ] bright yellow 20 ton DIGGER in the middle of the road?”
I venture to say it would be exceptionally difficult for anyone being unimpaired and paying attention, and driving with all the due care required by law, to not only not see a digger, but to plow straight into it – and by evidence – without a single attempt to avoid/slow down.
VOTE THIS CLOWN OUT! If he cant see a digger in the middle of the road he cant see anything else important impacting this country.
You are conflating criminal and civil issues. While i agree that Minister Seymour should accept responsibility (and surely should have been found to have been driving under the influence, or without due care, or both), contributory negligence is a partial defence to reduce damages in a civil complaint. I don’t think the defendant’s can raise that in their criminal case…
banana republic stuff.
I am also scared when he’s driving home at night, because I am also on the road and he’s likely drunk.
crocodile tears.
sad story that tells you more than enough about cig/civil service and police farce on theses islands
He is unable/unwilling to take any responsibility for his own actions. What a sad man.
Chris Saunders redux?
single handed blocked the raise of mikimum wage to 8$.
The wellbeing of about 10.000 minimum wagers is of no interest to this piece of human waste.
A christian fanatic who only cares for himself.
Absolutely disgusting.
all thectearx and fear are of course fake.
but for most uneducated caymanians it is all they need to get fooled.
btw, many cars passed the machine and avoided it, but XXXXX seymour hit it ?
These accusations makes absolutely no sense. I hope a unbiased detailed investigation will reveal the truth. This is the second time this particular minister has crashed and was not breathalysed. Ok DPP, auditor general and ombudsman, start there.
Nobody should be driving any vehicle faster than they can safely stop. Especially in relation to a fixed roadway obstruction, visible from hundreds of yards. This is 100% driver impairment.
If one had both eyes on the road and paying attention, how the f..k can you miss a huge yellow boom in the middle of the road?
Maybe he thought it was a banana!!!
he didn’t miss it at all, in fact, he fully hit it
‘He is now scared to drive home at night’ – good, the rest of us are scared of you driving home at night!
There’s so many unanswered questions about this case. First, why did Jon Jon have a massive jub of Vaseline in his vehicle, was he greasing his hands up for the long, drunk drive home from a party? Why does he need that much lube inside his car?
Also, how would those kids be “trying to kill” him?? Anyone else driving by on that road managed to avoid the crane, did the boys know Jon Jon was going to be out drinking that night and be wreckless behind the wheel? The real crime in this instance is allowing this fool to keep his driver’s license!
Police corrupt too!
Is there any karma or at least irony in this collision with stationery machine that is frequently used in destroying the environment?
whether we like Jon Jon or not, there was an actual object in the middle of the road. That is not in question. It could have been anyone that hit this and the culprits should be held accountable. He could have been seriously injured and that should be the focus.
Coulda, coulda, coulda…
Coulda this on for size:
Bloody hell, that coulda been a person standing at the side of the road.
Boo hoo to you too!
If we are playing the the hypothetical – He could have seen the bright yellow excavator and stopped or driven around it, like the previous driver that called it in. If you are that smashed that you cant see a bright yellow object that size then you shouldn’t be driving – could hit other vehicles or pedestrians. XXXX
There’s something very strange about this entire situation….
There is something really very strange about Seymour!
Another ritual DUI by a Cayman Islands MP; and then another RCIPS free pass. This is just illustrative of the normal high levels of corruption alive in the jurisdiction. Rolston 2.0.
Seymour is very – very strange always, this just makes it worse. Glad nothing fell out of the big gash in his head.
nothing strange. Its called corruption.
How it’s possible for people to be so foolish to vote for him. Humans supposed to have a brain.
Strange or business as usual for Cayman politicians?
And what was the dishonorable Minister’s blood alcohol level at the time of the crash?
Anyone?
The police didn’t supply the doctor with the required evidence kit to sample!
If you believe that I got a bridge to the Brac to sell you.
That will never be known. So many have lost their license for less, a class action lawsuit needs to be brought against the police and the hospital, this is unacceptable, and they seek to right it off as a misunderstanding. Something very criminal went on here. Vote This man out as a start on the right track!
The public have to know to chase up and press the Chief of Police on the purported “internal investigation” at the RCIPS and HSA to find out who will be held to account to restore some trust. Cayman does not have anyone willing to do that, and the press don’t want to peel the accountability onion as they might be expected to do elsewhere. It’s dangerous here.
Alex, “what is 0.25.”
If he actually rolled out of his car he’d still be rolling today.
I shouldn’t have read this with a cup of hot coffee to my mouth.
I just spent 10 minutes cleaning my keyboard and computer screens.
I visioned the competition chasing the round block of cheese down the hill!!!
“This was not the first time the minister crashed into a stationary object after driving home late from work.” Work HA!
. Vote him out.
“Vote him out”. Nope. nah going happen. He has rock solid votes locked away in Little Jamaica aka Bodden Town.
Probably won’t be the last either. Severe head injury didn’t do much damage as there wasn’t anything in that cranium to damage. XXXX
these are Bodden Town votes we’re talking about here. John John will be having fish Fry’s and free booze every 2 weeks until the election. Thats all majority of them seem to care about, while their district is nothing more than a drive through to east end or savannah. Bodden Town hasnt elevated in 15-20 years, Let that sink in.