Colleagues shaken by Manchester car dealer’s crash death
Published:Thursday | February 17, 2022 | 12:05 AMTamara Bailey/Gleaner Writer
MANDEVILLE, Manchester:
The two-vehicle collision that led to the tragic death of 28-year-old Manchester businessman Llorn Powell on Sunday night has been described as shocking and heartbreaking by those who knew him well.
The reports are that at approximately 8:30 p.m., Powell was driving along the Greenvale road, heading home from Mandeville, when a speeding vehicle travelling in the opposite direction collided with his car.
Both drivers and a passenger in Powell’s vehicle were taken to the Mandeville Regional Hospital, where Powell was pronounced dead and the other driver and passenger admitted.
Powell, more popularly known as Lance, was said to have been a quiet man who rarely engaged in conversation.
“He was a very humble guy ... very pleasant. He was not even the guy to really go out and drink. Sometimes we go out and we have to force him to have a one drink and if we turn our backs, you probably see him throwing out the liquor,” said a colleague who gave his name only as ‘Supa’.
He added that despite Powell’s fascination with cars, he never participated in racing or had a craze for fast cars.
“When I heard about the accident, I couldn’t believe. Me just reach home from the airport and tired after a long day of flying and me couldn’t believe what the person who called to tell me was saying,” said Supa.
Supa said he immediately rushed to the scene and saw first responders removing Powell’s body from the vehicle.
“We grew up in the same community and he went to the school I went to, but we never got so close until we started out in this business, maybe around 2015. Since the accident, everybody that know him just cold up. Since Sunday, sometimes me just stare into space. A just last night me delete the last voice note him send me, giving a joke about a car I was supposed to sell him. Me cyan bear fi hear him voice knowing say the man gone. Me feel a way, God know.”
Supa, who stated that he and Powell would often travel to Kingston to pick up vehicles and run errands in the town, said this is the third friend he is losing to a motor vehicle accident since December of last year.
“Too many immature drivers are on the road and they don’t have the experience to drive on the road. This man (Lance) nuh drive fast, him just a go home and then this other vehicle come and this happen. It was since the accident that I even learnt he had a child on the way and it is just sad,” Supa said.
Sergeant in charge of traffic at the Mandeville Police Station, Florzel Williams, who confirmed that the accident was as a result of speeding, told The Gleaner that the driver of the other vehicle, who remains in hospital, will be charged for causing death by dangerous driving.
Williams said since the start of the year there have been three fatal collisions resulting in three deaths.
Last year, he said the parish recorded a total of 34 fatal collisions where 41 persons lost their lives.