The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

HYLANDA Sands-Johnson was in New Providence when her phone alerted her that her younger brother’s iPhone had detected a crash in South Andros. She called his number, and someone at the scene picked up.

“It was chaotic. A lot of screaming, shouting,” she said. “They were looking for his body at the time.”

Her brother, Tristan Smith, 23, a Bahamas Power and Light linesman, had been thrown from his car when it overturned in High Rock shortly after 5pm on Thursday. He was taken to a local clinic named in honour of his grandmother, Miriam Green, where he later died.

Smith had listed his sister as the emergency contact on his phone, so she was alerted the moment the crash happened. Over the phone, she urged the people at the scene not to move him and to call the clinic. She also contacted police on Andros with the location of his phone, and called relatives on the island so they could get to him.

It then fell to her to tell their mother and siblings that he had died.

“It’s a painful blow. He was my mom’s last child, her baby,” Ms Sands-Johnson said. “It’s our only boy; there are three girls, and he would have been the only boy.”

Police said Smith was driving a white Suzuki Swift south along Queen’s Highway when he reportedly lost control. The car overturned, and he was ejected into nearby bushes, where officers found him injured. Emergency medical personnel took him to the clinic.

“At 23, you know, we never thought that this would be,” his sister said. “I always thought that I would be there when he has his children, when he gets married.”

She said police officers and others in the community were crying after his death, and the family had received an outpouring of condolences from people in Andros and beyond.

“It’s a blow to the community,” she said. “We have people reaching out asking how best to support the family. And they wanted to give back in some way because he was always a giver. You could get the shirt off his back.”

“He was always the person to bring smiles to everyone’s faces, always the person to be cracking jokes, and he’s always dancing, always laughing, always helpful,” she said.

“Every morning, he would post, saying, ‘Thanking God for life, health, and strength.’”

His work for BPL made him well known across Andros, including Mangrove Cay, where workers were shared between settlements, and in Abaco, where he once lived. His sister said she admired how he connected with people of all ages and backgrounds. People in New Providence whom the family had never met have reached out with memories of him, she said, and some told her he had encouraged them to pursue their passions and supported their businesses. She said the response showed the impact he made in his short life.

His parents are struggling.

“My mom and his dad, they’re not coping well,” Ms Sands-Johnson said. She said it was the third loss the family had suffered.

His father, who has no other children, was taking his death especially hard.

“Tristan was his only son, and they had an amazing bond,” she said.

Ms Sands-Johnson said she must stay strong for her own two young sons and the rest of the family.

“There are emotions that come with losing a loved one, but I am encouraging my family to push through it one day at a time,” she said.

She described her brother as a beacon of light whose death has left a huge void in the family.