Cops treating highway stone death as homicide

Police investigators are now theorising that Sunday's death of 62-year-old Osbourne Melburn was a homicide.

Melburn died after a stone crashed through the windshield of the car he was driving on the Spanish Town leg of Highway 2000, killing him on the spot.

Initial reports suggested that the police were stumped about where the stone came from but a motorist told The Gleaner that he had passed the spot a short while before Melburn and saw children on the bridge throwing stones at passing vehicles, including the one he was driving.

"When I approached the Bernard Lodge bridge, I saw some boys on it and I thought they were playing, but as I was going under the bridge I heard a loud explosion," Ray Brennan told The Gleaner.

"I thought it was a tyre blowout, but when I looked I saw that the windshield was busted and I saw splinters all over the car. I stopped and came out and the boys ran," Brennan added.

Matter reported

He said he reported the matter at the Ferry Police Station and was told that, although the highway was not theirs to patrol, they would send a car to the area.

Yesterday, the Ferry police were unable to confirm having received a report but Brennan said he had a receipt signed by a policewoman.

The Ferry police also told The Gleaner that they would not be surprised that the story was true.

"It has been a constant problem with children, particularly on the March Pen Road bridge, throwing stones at motor vehicles on the highway," one policeman said.

"We know about it and we do our best, but it is a long highway and they run when they see us coming," he added.

Melburn was visiting the island from the United States and had spent the morning visiting the grave of a family member before heading towards Spanish Town at 1:30 in the afternoon.

He had planned to return to the US on Monday.