NSWMA head involved in fatal crash

Don Ray Mignott was on his way to his cousin's house in Treadways -- a district separated from his hometown of Ruxley by the North-South link of Highway 2000 -- when he became the victim of a motor vehicle incident on Saturday.

The vehicle that was being driven by Audley Gordon, the executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority. The matter is now the subject of a police investigation.

Gordon was driving his Toyota Prado SUV along the toll road, towards Kingston, near Linstead, when the crash occurred about 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Mignott's cousin, Anthony 'Cheapy Cheapy' Hibbert, said that he was taking coconut and potatoes for his wife as she was planning to bake potato puddings. However, instead of taking a longer route, which involves safely crossing the road via an overhead bridge, he opted to cross the highway, a dangerous practice employed by many persons who want to avoid the extra walk.

There are signs along the thoroughfare, which indicate that animals and pedestrians are prohibited from crossing the highway.

An alleged eyewitness said that 56-year-old Mignott, who had crossed over from the other side, was just about to lift his trailing leg over a barrier when he was caught by the vehicle.

"It drag him fi bout 100 metres," the eyewitness said.

Hibbert said that residents of the communities surrounding the highway are aware of the dangers posed by attempting to cross the busy thoroughfare.

"Every bandoolu nice, enuh, but yuh see when yuh get caught it nah go nice, enuh ... Yuh cyah blame the motorists dem fi drive fast pon di highway because a dat dem get the road fah. Wi always know say it dangerous fi walk it, enuh, but if yu fi drive from yah so (Treadways) fi guh upper a Ruxley, and him walk and cut through the highway, him a guh reach before yuh. People a walk deh so before dem build it up," he said.

One of Mignott's children, Daniella, described her father as a hard-working and determined man who was always there for his children.

"He would always tell his children "early to bed and early rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise."

"His house is filled with encyclopaedias which he would always encourage us to read whenever we were there. He was a very jovial but introverted individual, always finding positivity in all situations. He was always on the go, always hustling as a 9-5 wasn't in his plans. You could always find him building around his home, doing mechanic, farming, carry water for the elderly. He was the true definition of "a jack of all trades," a tearful Daniella said.