Fatal Traffic Accident on the Northern Highway

trevor lofter

A man riding his bicycle on the Northern Highway never made it to his intended destination. Fifty-two year old Trevor Lofter was killed between miles eleven and twelve when he was hit by a vehicle driven by Christopher Tillett at around ten o’clock Thursday night. Tillett, a customer care service agent, was charged this afternoon with Manslaughter by Negligence, Driving Without Due Care and Attention and Causing Death by Careless Conduct. Lofter’s family believes he was speeding. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

The extensively damaged windshield and dented roof of this black Geo Prism is a clear indication to the family of fifty-two year old Trevor Lofter that the driver who unintentionally knocked him down and killed him may have been speeding on Thursday night.  Shortly after ten o’clock, Lofter was riding his bicycle between miles eleven and twelve on the Northern Highway in the direction of Burrell Boom when he was hit from the rear by a vehicle driven by twenty-two year old Christopher Tillett.  Lofter’s wife who last saw him earlier that day found out what happened when she called his cell phone upon noticing that he hadn’t returned home from buying boledo.

martha mejia

Martha Mejia, Common-Law Wife of Trevor Lofter

“I pick up my phone and I called his phone.  The first time voicemail then the second, I tried it again the second time and then a strange voice answered his phone and I  said like this “Who this?  Who have my husband phone?”  So ih say “oh you’re his wife?”  I tell ah yes.  He said “well I’m a police officer and [there] had been an accident.”  I said “accident, which accident?”  He said “well your husband had been killed close to the El Cas area and right away I called my boss and then he take me over.  And when I went over there I just saw the body on the ground.”

What Mejia did not immediately become aware of was that her husband was badly wounded.  He suffered a massive blow to the head and one of his legs had been severed when the vehicle hit him.

Martha Mejia

“I lift he up to see if he’s alive or if he is dead and then my hand, my left hand just went like in a hole in the back of his head and I screamed and then I touch his chest to see if he is breathing or something and he was not breathing.  So I just continued and when I look I just see, I just see his foot.  And so my son hold me and I just see he’s short of one foot and I just ask the officer where is his foot and then he said ‘It’s right there.  It’s right there and I just continued on and they put him in the vehicle and I followed the vehicle and went to the hospital and the doctor pronounced him dead.”

Trevor Lofter, a resident of Myrtle Wade Crescent in Ladyville, was a self employed contractor in his neighborhood.

Martha Mejia

“I don’t know what’s wrong because he work right over [there], not too far from here and where he get hit it’s about two miles away from his home.  So I don’t know what transpired between; because I know he went over by the Chinese shop and buy some Boledo but then why he take straight up I don’t know why.  He just continued up the Northern Road.”

christopher tillett

Christopher Tillett has since been detained by Ladyville Police and charges are expected to be brought against him. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.