Cop dies hours before honeymoon

• A love cut short

Michael Nattoo – Staff Reporter

“This Friday [today] should have been our honeymoon – I told him to let me come… I told him to let me come with him, but he said no, and that he would be back. But now, I’m so lost.” These were the words of a tearful Trishaula Morrison, the wife of Constable Junior Morrison, as she related to the Western Mirror how she came to know that the love of her life had died, after just two months into their marriage.

“We’ve been ‘together’ since we were eight years old,” Mrs. Morrison remembers as she managed a chuckle, citing that somehow, she had always known that Constable Morrison, a past student of Cornwall College, would be a part of her life. Having both grown up as neighbours in Sandy Bay, Hanover, the two shared a bond that many family members and friends suspected would have blossomed into the love it did.

“He was the kind of young man you wouldn’t be skeptical of,” Mr. Horaldo Anderson, father of Mrs. Morrison, related. “He was one of those son-in-laws that grabbed your attention immediately; he was fun-loving, and was totally committed to Christ, and would always try to crack a joke – that’s the kind of person he was,” Anderson added.

 Mrs. Morrison, who relates to the Western Mirror that she hasn’t eaten since her husband died on Tuesday, explained that even while growing up as teenagers, their relationship was one that all knew and approved of. “Even in the mornings before he went to school,” Mrs. Morrison remembers fondly, “I would cook him breakfast.” Morrison went on to explain that whenever her husband, Junior, who was a formidable goalkeeper for Cornwall College’s da’Costa Cup team, between 2009 and 2011, had a match, she would cheer for him, despite being a student of Rusea’s High School, one of Cornwall College’s old rivals in the schoolboy league. “I would always cheer for him. And in the evenings, because his house was close to mine, whenever he would go home in the evenings,” she explained, “he would stop for dinner.”

The two maintained a relationship, way beyond their school years, which eventually brought them a daughter.

TRAGEDY STRUCK

When the two got married on May 21 earlier this year, they had a life of dreams and goals planned out before them – a life they imagined they would always make the best of, as long as they had each other. But on July 25, tragedy struck.

“He agreed to get gas for the car so he could loan it to one of my cousins for a trip he had to make out of town, so I told him I wanted to come with him,” Mrs. Morrison relayed. “However, he assured me he would be okay, and that he would be back, and that I didn’t have to come.” Mrs. Morrison further explained that he gave her some money, and told her to go get her hair done so that they could kick off their honeymoon the right way – just a few days away.

He, however, would not return.

According to reports, Morrison was driving along the Lilliput main road, and as he headed towards Montego Bay,  the driver of a black BMW, who was travelling in the opposite direction, failed to indicate that that he was making a turn, which resulted in a collision. Constable Morrison, who was being accompanied by his cousin, who was also injured in the accident, was rushed to the Falmouth Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

According to Mrs. Morrison, she was in Montego Bay at the time, waiting to hear from her husband, but never did.

“I tried calling him, but I didn’t get a response. That was very unlike him,” she added, explaining that he would usually pull over if he was driving to answer her calls. “When I didn’t hear from him, I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t even get my cousin when I tried calling him.”

DREADED PHONE CALL

Mrs. Morrison later received a phone call from her cousin, who told her they were involved in a car crash. “I thought he was joking, so I told him not to play with me, and hung up the phone.” But after realizing that he may have been telling the truth, she called him back. “Are you serious?” she remembers asking. “Yes,” she remembers hearing.

“After going home to pack clothes for him, and my daughter, I remember passing a group of police and soldiers at the crash scene, and I thought that they were just protecting his car from looting,” Morrison said, as she made her way to her husband.

What Morrison later learnt, however, was that the body of her husband was still in the car when she passed it.

“We were supposed to have a life together. We moved to Kingston, and started things there – our own family, but now, I honestly don’t know what to do. I really don’t,” Morrison lamented.

Their daughter, who will turn three years old later this year, still feels that her daddy is at work.

“Whenever someone asks her where daddy is, she says he is at work, and that he’ll soon be home. She’s still waiting for him. She’s still waiting for him,” expressed a remorseful Anderson, Trishaula’s father.

Despite the support being received from friends and family, as well as members of the Sandy Bay Police Station, Morrison is still reeling from the loss of her best friend, and is finding it hard to imagine her life without him.

Junior Morrison was just 25 years old.