The wreckage of the Hyundai motor car in which two district constables were killed, yesterday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer TWO POLICE constables were killed in an accident yesterday morning on Hagley Park Road, Kingston 11. Two other policemen and two civilians were injured and hospitalised in serious condition.
District Constables Hugh Farquharson, 26, and his colleague, Tamica Johnson, 23, both of the Spanish Town police, were killed when a Hyundai motor car in which four police constables and a civilian were travelling home on their way from the popular Asylum nightclub in New Kingston, reportedly skidded on the wet road and slammed into a Toyota Corolla motor car.
Constables Dujon Rose and Walter Skeen, as well as 21-year-old tour assistant, Jermaine Paige, of Nugent Street, Spanish Town, St. Catherine, and Anthony Henry, a 22-year-old photographer of Stony Hill, St Andrew, were also injured in the accident. Henry was a passenger in the Toyota Corolla. The driver of the Corolla, Hopeton Walker, was treated at hospital and released.
In a report yesterday, the police Constabulary Communication Net-work (CCN) said that the Hyundai motor car, registered 9256BK, with the four officers and Paige aboard, was travelling along Hagley Park Road towards the Three Miles intersection, about 4:50 a.m., when it collided with the Toyota Corolla registered 3805DV, in the vicinity of the Bottom Line Wholesale and Haberdashery, 83 Hagley Park Road.
The police reported that DC Johnson died instantly, while the others sustained multiple injuries. DC Johnson's body had to be cut from the wreckage. The injured were rushed to hospital, where they have since regained consciousness, but are considered to be in critical condition.
The grief seemed almost unbearable for family members, friends and colleagues of both Johnson and Farquharson. Constable Farquharson leaves behind an 11-day-old baby and a young widow after only 30 months of marriage.
Constable Johnson's mother, Paulette Lawrence, sobbed in anguish, as she and her sister, Charmaine Latty-Gocool, visited the Spanish Town Police Station seeking information of the crash.
"Oh God, ah mi daughter dat, you know. Ah mi beloved daughter! Tru yuh no know. She ah more than daughter to me. We are very close," she moaned. "Tamica is like mi mother, father, brother, everything in one, because she stick to me. If you see the young little girl, the nice little girl. She ah try her best. She ah try, she ah try fi achieve something innah life. Oooh, My God! Everybody always talk 'bout her!"
DC Johnson worked as a civilian at the station for six years, before becoming a district constable, less than a year ago. According to her mother, she had been invited out by her colleagues and had, initially, decided not to go. But, she changed her mind after they turned up at her home.
"I don't know. It's just overwhelming. I don't have the words - I just can't believe it. I went to look at her body and I just can't believe it's her lying there. I don't know when I'll ever come to terms with it," Mrs. Latty-Gocool said.
DC Farquharson's widow, Christine, said: "I was in Seaview Gardens. His sister called me (and told me) and all I did was walk up and down. You know, (when) you can't believe a thing? I can't believe it. Up to now, I can't believe," she whispered. "He was funny, gave me a whole lot of jokes. He meant a whole lot. We were supposed to spend today together, but that never get to work out," she said.
The mood was also subdued at the Spanish Town Police Station.
The police report that DC Johnson died instantly, while the others sustained multiple injuries. They were taken to hospital where DC Farquharson was pronounced dead.
Head of CCN, Superintendent James Forbes, said in cases like these, relatives of dead police personnel are usually assisted by the community relations department and the chaplaincy unit to organise the funerals.
The chaplaincy unit also goes in to counsel family members and loved ones can get compensation from the Government and the Police Federation to help in offsetting funeral costs, he said.
