The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ABACO police are investigating a hit-and-run accident early yesterday morning that resulted in a double fatality of two men believed to be Haitian nationals.

A male resident of Central Pines is in police custody assisting them with investigations into the accident, police have said.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Stephen Rolle reported that the Marsh Harbour Police Station received a report shortly after 5am of two men lying in the street who appeared to be lifeless.

Uniformed officers went to the scene to investigate. According to initial reports, sometime around 5.34am a male resident of Marsh Harbour was travelling north on Charles Sawyer Boulevard in a private vehicle when he saw the bodies of two men lying on the southern side of the street.

ASP Rolle said EMS personnel, along with medical doctors, went to the scene and examined the victims. Both were pronounced dead.

A resident of Abaco said the incident has left many residents concerned.

Bishop Silbert Mills, Pastor of Friendship Tabernacle Church in Central Abaco, said it is a very “chilling” thing.

“People here are very concerned and disturbed about it, especially how the victims were left to die,” he said.

He said that two young men believed to be the sons of one of the victims turned up at the scene and identified themselves to police as relatives.

Bishop Mills said that the young men were shocked by the tragic news of their father’s death.

“They were pretty shaken up; the shock of it all left them with a loss for words,” he said.

Bishop Mills said there have been several hit-and-run incidents, along with some unsolved accidents in Abaco over the years.

He said such incidents are very painful for the families of the victims.

“It is always chilling when you have these kinds of acts, and when the heart of an individual leads them to take off and leave individuals dead. Supposed there was a little life left, and you left them. That is very painful for people to process,” Bishop Mills said.

He said sometimes there is the possibility that the victims could have been saved if assistance had got to them in time.

“Suppose they could have been saved if an ambulance was called – you left them there to perish? We pray that the person responsible is found,” Bishop Mills said.