Three Hattieville residents perish in a traffic accident

Mark McKoy

As many as three persons were killed on Thursday night when a small car and a pickup truck collided on the George Price Highway. The stretch of road just before mile eight where the accident happened was desolate, but became a bloody scene and traffic came to a halt.   Two victims were trapped inside the pickup truck and the third was thrown out of the vehicle. Marlon Martinez was behind the steering wheel of the car when he collided with the pickup truck driven by Emerson Luis Jones. The victims are residents of Hattieville. News Five’s Duane Moody has the following report.

Duane Moody, Reporting

It was a gruesome scene on the George Price Highway following a fatal traffic accident between miles seven and eight. Two vehicles, a grey Suzuki car and a Chevy pickup truck, slammed into each other in a front-on collision. Riding inside the pickup were Mark McKoy, Godwin Flowers and behind the steering wheel was Emerson Luis Jones; all three died on impact.

Phillip Latchman

Also travelling in the pan of the pickup was Phillip Latchman who is currently admitted at the K.H.M.H.; he received abrasions to his entire body. The victims were on their way home from work when they met their untimely deaths.

Keisha Reyes, his common-law wife, says that the last time she spoke to her husband was two the morning when she arrived home from work. She says that after several attempts to contact him through his cell phone she realized that something was awfully wrong.

Keisha Reyes

Keisha Reyes, Common-law-wife of Emerson Luis Jones

“I was at home washing and I see wah vehicle stop in front of my house. By the time I draw attention to the person, ih say Keish, weh dah Naldo license number. I said fifty-five seventy; why? He say, ih ketch ina wha accident dah eight miles. I say weh happen? So I tell ahn lend mi yo phone mek I call. The phone only ring and ring. So I say something happen fi true cause he mi wah answer. Whilst I di talk to he, I see my friend di come ina fi she ride; there an then I realize that dah me she di come to. She come and she say Keish, Emo ketch ina wah accident. I say ih dead? She noh answer me. I ask her again, and ih noh answer me.”

Jones leaves behind three kids including a nineteen month old baby boy. But for Myrtle Morris, she lost her only son of four kids. Twenty-six year old Mark McKoy also died on the spot in the collision. Morris says she hasn’t seen her baby boy for some time now and the incident is heart-wrenching.

Myrtle Morris, Mother of Mark McKoy

Myrtle Morris

“I noh see my son yet and I always wah see my son after my sister married. I noh see my son again. So I keep on di go back dah fi he friend dehn di ask ahn if he come down. So I tell dehn when unu see ahn, tell ahn I need fi see ahn; I need fi talk to ahn. I noh see my son, so last night my niece call me. She said, you mi did see “Boopsy?” I tell ahn no, I noh see ahn yet. She say because wah accident happen dah eight miles and ih noh know if he in there. And I said gial noh…I locked my door and I say I gwen go see back ah curly. When my phone ring again, somebody in the background say dah “Boopsy” and di cry. So I run back and ask my neighbor fi drop me on the scene. When I get there and I see my son mien…(crying)All I could say I lose wah loving son and my baby.”

And as family members made their way to the scene, they came across the gruesome discovery. Jones, Flowers and McKoy laid motionless and trapped within the cab of the Chevy pickup truck.

Keisha Reyes

“Dehn had to cut out the top of the vehicle and the three bodies lay side ah di road.”

Emerson Luis Jones

Myrtle Morris

“When we get out there, dehn got my son and the next two body on the ground fi three hours and a half. Dehn noh want I see my son, dehn noh want no family member see none ah the body weh mi deh down pan di ground. My niece had to cuss up and say that is somebody’s loved one that is down there. How unu woulda mi feel if dah mi fu unu one mi deh down there. My nephew said this dha ih ma and she has to identify ahn. And dah soh I gone see my son and my son properly broke up; broke up. Dehn couldn’t survive that.”

What caused the horrific accident is unknown, but three families are in mourning following the ordeal. They say while the loss was due to an accident, they want answers as to what led to the tragedy.

Myrtle Morris

“Dehn noh tell we nothing, dehn noh tell we nothing, dehn noh tell we nothing. All deh do dah di go on like some hag out dah the scene last night. Even at the morgue dehn di go on like some hag last night.”

Natalie Novelo, Love News

“What have you heard about what happened at the accident?”

Myrtle Morris

“Well I really noh hear weh gone on, weh cause the accident. All I hear is that the next vehicle in the wrong; he mi di swerve across the road. I noh know.”

The driver of the car, Marlon Martinez, escaped with minor injuries and has since been discharged from the hospital. Duane Moody for News Five.

Police are trying to determine the cause of the accident.