JUTC employee dies after being run over by bus

"Each time me look at him picture, tears full me eyes because me heart a grieve," said Collin Brown.

This harrowing pain has been with him since last Thursday after receiving news that his father was hit from his pedal cycle by a Jamaican Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus. He succumbed to his injuries three days after the incident.

The man, 62-year-old Hamlett Brown, worked with the JUTC for 21 years, and was returning from its depot on Lyndhurst Road in St Andrew when the accident occurred. He died three days later.

"He went up to his workplace to get some form to fill out to so him can stay home because of the COVID thing, but him never make it back," said Collin.

The accident took place at the Hagley Park and Waltham Park roads intersection in St Andrew. The JUTC said that the driver of the bus fainted at the scene.

Collin recalled the moment he got the horrifying news that his father had been hit from his bike and had been rushed to hospital.

"I was at my mother's house cooking and me nephew come and tell me say him hear that dad got hit down by a bus and from there so me whole world change."

Collin, 27, said his father was a security guard at the state-run bus company. He said that his absence will affect the family greatly, as he was the breadwinner.

Seven grandchildren

"He never like to stay at home not doing anything. Him always like to go and look bread to support his family. He has seven grandchildren who rely on him to survive because their father died," he told THE WEEKEND STAR. "Me wipe windscreen at times because me don't have a current job and that is my hustle to help out in the house."

"But from this happen me no longer out on the street because it mash me up and if dad was here, him would provide some food on the table. Me don't know how we going to make it through life," the distraught son added

In addition to being a hard worker, the elder Brown has been remembered by his son as a "very honest and humble person".

"My father was a decent man, somebody who had integrity in everything he did. He really enjoys the company of his friends and family and always a entertain. Even JUTC put out something say he is sadly missed."

Collin said that their Majesty Gardens, St Andrew dwelling is empty without his dad's presence.

"Anytime me go home a just sadness and me cry like baby because a me and him use to live and we use to do certain things together at morning and night. Me have to just a fight myself to come out of the house sometimes to talk and laugh with friends," he told THE WEEKEND STAR.

Cecil Thomas, corporate communications manager at the JUTC, said that the accident is most regrettable.

"I can only imagine how hard it is for the family," he said, adding that the circumstances under which Brown died "remains an issue of active investigation".