Shamir Brown
With just days before Christmas, two families are left to grapple with the loss of their loved ones following a motor vehicle crash along the Sandy Bay main road.
Two men died after the Toyota Corolla in which they were traveling veered off the roadway, after what seemed to be an attempted overtake, and crashed into the wall of the Grand Palladium Hotel in Point, Hanover on Tuesday night.
The driver, 22-year-old Rashard Johnson and 19-year-old Brandon Parkinson, suffered fatal wounds during the incident. Parkinson, it is said, was a student of HEART Trust NTA and was reportedly coming from school when the accident occurred.
Johnson is of a Frome address and Parkinson of Orange Hill district, both in Westmoreland.
Reports are that about 6 p.m., Johnson was driving a Toyota Corolla motor car along the point main rod in Hanover, heading towards Montego Bay, St. James, with five men aboard. Johnson, it is alleged, was attempting to overtake a vehicle when he lost control of the Toyota Corolla which veered off the road, ripping down a heritage sign before crashing into the wall of the Grand Palladium Resort.
All six men received multiple injuries.
Blood stains and fluids from the car showed how the impact was represented against the wall.
The fire department, which was contacted, was quick on the scene and responded with one fire unit and an ambulance.
A number of the injured men were assisted into the ambulance and others into another vehicle and rushed to hospital, where they were all admitted for treatment.
Johnson and Parkinson, however, were later pronounced dead.