St Andrew man dies in crash days after arriving in Cayman
Published:Saturday | August 26, 2023 | 12:10 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
The community of Mount Ogle in Lawrence Tavern, St Andrew, was plunged into mourning this week after news emerged that one of their own died in an accident in the Cayman Islands on Wednesday.
The deceased is 39-year-old Errol Simpson, otherwise known as ‘Shark’.
Simpson, who left Jamaica one week ago, is reportedly Cayman Islands’ seventh road fatality since the start of the year.
His friend and former schoolmate Kieva Khouri told The Gleaner that Simpson will be sadly missed.
“I have known him, you can say, all my life. We went to school together ... . He was loved by his family and anyone who came in contact with him. Our community has lost a very ambitious young man. He is a hustler and a go-getter ... . The entire community is in mourning,” Khouri said.
In a release sent to The Gleaner, The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) said that shortly before 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday, officers responded to a report of a fatal single-vehicle collision along Esterley Tibbetts Highway, just north of the Butterfield Roundabout, involving a white Toyota Mark X.
It was reported that the vehicle was travelling southbound when it left the roadway and collided with a fence.
The RCIPS did not name the deceased.
The police say emergency services attended the location, and two occupants of the vehicle were transported to the Cayman Islands Hospital for treatment.
The RCIPS said another male occupant was taken into custody and has been granted bail while the inquiry continues.
The Gleaner understands that he, too, is a Jamaican national.
The RCIPS did not state who the driver of the vehicle was, only suggesting that the investigation will ultimately determine who was behind the wheel.
Simpson’s death follows that of Jamaican Shanroy Delapena, 24, who died in May 2019 in a two-vehicle crash, which left three foreigners dead.
On December 5, 2021, a 39-year-old Jamaican, Alden Irons, who resides in the British overseas territory, was a passenger in a car which collided with another vehicle and then slammed into a concrete signpost.
He was the country’s ninth fatal crash victim at the time.
In September 2019, two Jamaica nationals living in Cayman, 26-year-old Lopez George Higgins, and Charlisa Titanya Chambers, 27, also died in a motor vehicle collision.