The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

TWO men were killed in separate traffic incidents over the weekend, with one crash claiming the life of a recent high school graduate and the other ending the career of a young police officer.

One of the victims was George Ferguson, 18, a recent high school graduate from Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama.

Police reported that Ferguson died after colliding with a Ford Transit at the junction of Queen’s Highway and Stubbs Avenue shortly before 9am yesterday.

The Ford driver was travelling east on Queen’s Highway when Ferguson was exiting Stubbs Avenue, causing the collision.

The driver was taken to hospital with minor complaints, while Ferguson died at the scene.

In a separate incident, 27-year-old police officer Jonathan Johnson was killed in a single-vehicle collision on Sunday night.

Authorities said shortly before 7pm, police received reports of a serious crash along East Bay Street. Officers arrived to find a heavily damaged vehicle that had struck a wall along the northern side of the roadway.

The lone male driver was found unresponsive inside the vehicle, a blue Ford Taurus. Fire Services extricated him from the wreckage, and Emergency Medical Services later confirmed he showed no signs of life.

Initial investigations suggest he was travelling east along East Bay Street when he reportedly lost control of the vehicle and collided with the wall.

Officer Johnson was a former student of St Augustine’s College and played basketball as a guard. His death prompted tributes from those who coached and competed against him.

Denykco Bowles, a coach at Doris Johnson Senior High School and a former head of the International Basketball Academy, said he coached Johnson from ages 15 to 18.

“You watch kids grow up and you watch them fulfill their passions and their roles in life,” he said. “You watch them obviously elevate and move through life. So with him being a young kid, like I say, you never anticipate those things, even though we know as a part of life, you always think the older folks are going to go first.”

“When you hear somebody who has had an impact on the school sporting community for the year 2018, especially the basketball world, it's definitely heartwrenching to know such a young, vibrant soul would have loss their life in such a tragic way.”

Mr Bowles described Johnson as energetic and passionate.

“He was a natural leader,” he said. “A very, good kid, mannerly, coachable. He was just a perfect, almost-perfect student-athlete. So he was definitely a bonus and a plus for anybody that would have them on their team. He was a resilient kid. He was a hardworking kid. He was very, very disciplined. He was dedicated to his craft and also passionate about it.”

He said it was not surprising that Johnson went on to become a police officer, noting that many student-athletes gravitate toward uniformed services.