The driver of the coaster bus involved in last week’s fatal crash in St Ann has been warned for prosecution.
The crash resulted in the death of two female employees of the Grand Bahia Principe Hotel on Tuesday night, November 22.
Those killed were: 23-year-old Jodian Duncan, a waitress of Exchange, St Ann and 24-year-old Shanique Grey, a member of the kitchen staff, from Oracabessa, St Mary.
A source attached to the St Ann traffic police explained to The Times that the driver gave the police a statement on Saturday, November 26.
The driver was later warned for prosecution for causing death by dangerous driving. This means that the driver may be prosecuted for the offence after the completion of investigations.
The police source explained that additional statements are to be collected from those passengers who survived the crash.
Preliminary reports indicate that at about 11:45 p.m., Duncan and Grey were among ten passengers on board a 29-seater Grand Bahia Principe staff bus travelling east towards Ocho Rios.
The bus later collided into a truck, which was parked in the vicinity of the Pearly Beach property on the Dunn’s River main road.
Jodian Duncan died on the scene and had to be cut from the wreckage, while the other female died at the St Ann’s Bay Hospital.
Eight other employees of the hotel and the driver were treated at the hospital and released.
In the meantime, the Road Safety Unit (RSU) says preliminary investigations indicate that faulty judgement on the part of the bus driver caused the crash.
Last week, RSU director, Kenute Hare, had told members of the media that it appeared the bus driver veered too far onto the soft shoulder of the roadway.
“This crash that took place is a blatant driver error based on the evidence on the ground. It is clear that the driver of the bus in my view didn’t recognize that he was so close to that parked truck,” Hare had stated.
He also had said that the parked truck had reflectors and the driver should have been able to see the truck, despite the area not having any street light.
However, police investigators in St Ann have not confirmed if reflectors were on the truck. The St Ann police source indicated that the truck and the coaster bus are at a garage in Exchange, St Ann pending examinations.
The source argued that further investigations will continue in order to determine exactly what happened that night.
