Seven die in Trelawny highway crash as former police await exit pay for years

Seven people were killed Friday morning in a head-on collision on the North Coast Highway in Trelawny, while another man remained in serious condition in hospital, police said.

The crash happened about 7:45 a.m. when a red Toyota travelling toward St. Ann drifted onto the wrong side of the road and struck a Hino Dutra truck coming the other way, according to police. Five men died at the scene. Two others later died at Falmouth Public General Hospital. The surviving driver tested negative for alcohol. Investigations continue.

Among the dead was 23-year-old Theodor Hudson. His mother, Susan Harris, pleaded with funeral workers not to handle his body roughly as they lifted him from the wreckage. Standing nearby, she wept and nearly collapsed as they carried away the son she called the apple of her eye. Another mother rolled on the ground in grief and had to be helped away. Hudson, Harris’s third child and one of her four sons, had left home only hours earlier. "He would kiss me and trouble me just to make me laugh," she said through tears. Relatives’ unanswered calls to his phone ended when police confirmed he was among the dead.

Dr Lucien Jones, vice chairman of the National Road Safety Council, said road deaths surged in June and July after a quieter January-to-May stretch, and that speeding and careless driving remain Jamaica’s leading causes of fatal crashes. He again urged full rollout of the demerit points system to take persistent dangerous drivers off the road.

In a separate development, a former Jamaica Constabulary Force member who left in good standing in 2023 says he is still waiting for leave-balance and retroactive payments promised on exit. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing backlash. Jamaica Police Federation general secretary Sergeant Lloyd Duncan said the federation has received multiple similar complaints and raised them with the Minister of National Security.

The Ministry of National Security said delays often involve members paid in lieu of vacation leave up to age 60, dependents of deceased officers, and contract staff owed leave or gratuity, as focus stays on pension cases. It reported the pension backlog cut from 331 to 165 since February 2026, not counting deferred retirement, death benefits and leave-in-lieu claims. A centralised pension hub now meets three times weekly; 86 files have been uploaded to the public employees pension system at about four uploads a day on 23 operational days.

The ex-officer said callers are repeatedly told files are stuck at audit, with no clear timeline. Duncan said temporary auditors were brought in to clear the backlog. The ministry urged those with delayed benefits to contact the JCF pension help desk.