Truck in Highway 2000 crash was going the wrong way
Published:Friday | August 26, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
Police investigators say they now have information indicating that the driver of the truck involved in the crash along Highway 2000 on Monday, killing a father and his nine-year-old son, was driving in the wrong direction on the highway to avoid the toll charges.
Head of the Police Traffic Division, Senior Superintendent Radcliffe Lewis, who made the disclosure yesterday, said this has become a common practice by "dishonest and unscrupulous" motorists trying to evade the toll.
"Slip roads that are used to enter and exit the toll are now being used in the reverse to avoid paying the toll," Lewis told The Gleaner yesterday.
"These slip roads are being used on a regular basis by these dishonest persons and this is what caused the accident on Monday," he added.
Singling out the Vineyards Toll Plaza as among the worst spots, Lewis suggested that tyre shredders be "immediately" installed at these locations "to prevent other accidents and preserve lives".
The driver of the truck, who Lewis identified as Oneil Smith, from Cromartie, in Spanish Town, was still on the run up to late yesterday.
Lewis said a warrant has been issued for Smith's arrest on two counts of manslaughter.
Urged to turn self in
He urged Smith, who is also known as 'Fire', to turn himself in to the Old Harbour Police or Traffic headquarters at Elletson Road in Kingston immediately.
"So that he can be arrested and maybe offered bail or he will be taken to court quickly where bail will probably be offered," Lewis explained.
Initial reports are that 42-year-old Delmar Sherriffe and his son Jhamie were killed when the Suzuki Grand Vitara they and two other relatives were travelling in collided with a truck heading in the same direction near the Vineyards Toll Plaza shortly after 7 p.m. on Monday.
They were returning from Mandeville, Manchester, where they were making preparations for the opening of a new branch of the family business in the parish.
However, Lewis said the police now have information that the truck entered the highway from the slip road and, instead of making a right turn and continuing on to Kingston, the driver made an illegal left turn into the path of the doomed Vitara.
"I guess that the man that got killed and his son couldn't imagine that he was going to do that," Lewis said.
"This is what caused the accident," insisted Lewis, dismissing initial claims that the crash occurred after the Vitara blew a tyre.