-Richard Morais/Freelance Photographer
The mangled wreckage of the Rav4 sport utility vehicle in which Maxine Lindo met her death in Trelawny yesterday.
Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
A FEMALE motorist was killed yesterday morning along the Salt Marsh main road, in Trelawny, when a loaded International trailer jackknifed and collided with her sport utility vehicle (SUV), crushing it.
The dead woman has been identified as 40-year-old Maxine Lindo of Falmouth Gardens in Trelawny. Her eight-year-old son, Stephan Gregg, and her sister, Aldith Sherton, who were also in the vehicle, sustained injuries.
Lancelot Lindo, brother of the deceased, and who was very early on the scene, confirmed that both Gregg and Sherton were taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital for treatment. He said his mother, Vida Lindo, on hearing the news of her daughter's death, collapsed and had to be rushed to the Falmouth Hospital, where she has been admitted.
Reports are that about 7:15 a.m. yesterday, Ms. Lindo was on her way to work in Montego Bay when she encountered the speeding trailer, licensed 1403DY, coming from the direction of Montego Bay. She reportedly pulled on to the soft shoulder of the road, an apparent effort to give the trailer driver enough space to manoeuvre. This was, however, to no avail as upon negotiating the left-hand corner of the main road, the trailer reportedly jackknifed and the container collided with her blue Rav4, ripping the top off.
"The top of the car tear off, door, everything," one eyewitness explained. "The likkle youth he had a cut on his forehead. When we tek him out the driver was a gasp. Her mouth open slowly and her eye roll over. The steering wheel bend up and strap her een."
According to other eyewitnesses, following the accident the driver of the trailer reportedly jumped from his vehicle, brandished a firearm and "fired four shots in the air and run go up the road." He has not been seen since. The Trelawny police are investigating.
Mr. Lindo said he was at a loss... unable to come to terms with the reality of the situation.
"I really don't know how to describe the whole situation honestly," Mr. Lindo said. "I am at loss... just last week my niece lost her father in an accident on the Queen's Highway. In February, that same niece lost her brother so it's like a tragedy hitting the family."
