March Pen mourns two-year-old killed by car

The family of two-year-old Tayshawn McDonald was in the middle of preparing a pot of soup to serve at a planned memorial for his deceased uncle when tragedy struck.

The infant was at his gate playing with his football, while his father was preparing the soup not far from him, when he was hit by a car that was proceeding down the nicely paved community street about 11 o’clock Saturday morning.

“Mi see the car come ‘round the corner and hit mi son standing at the gate with him ball,” stated Sean McDonald, father of the deceased child.

“Mi run to him and grab him, but from mi grab him up, him no feel right inna mi hand, and him a try to say something to mi, but it couldn’t come out. Mi have him inna mi hand at the hospital and dem a move slow, then mi see him eye roll over and mi lose it, and I ask God why mi son go dead inna mi hand.”

McDonald described his son as a smart and intelligent boy, who had a promising future ahead of him.

“Mi know we was going to get something out of him; if not something good then something bad, dat mi know. This youth was for the whole community because the whole community loves him,” the grieving father told The Gleaner.

McDonald, who acknowledged the outpouring of support from community members, said he had to cancel the uncle’s memorial because he didn’t have the strength to go through with it.

The distraught mother, Teddisha Johnson, could not suppress her feelings about losing the last of her six children -Tayshawn being the only one for McDonald.

“It better they come kill mi instead a mi baby,” she said between sobs. “Mi baby no live no life yet, mi baby brilliant, mi baby know everything that him fi know. Everybody love him, everybody in the community know him, and him know them. When him hear car or bike a come, mi mek sure him come out of the road,” Johnson said.

DRIVING LIKE A RACE TRACK

She added that the road had become a racetrack for many motorists and bikers who live in the community, and even after repeated appeals for them to drive slowly nobody listens.

Member of Parliament Andrew Wheatley who visited the family home to offer his support, and to impress on the community that has had numerous skirmishes in the past, to stay calm in the face of the tragedy. He assured the residents that he would be taking steps to deal with the speeding problem.

“I am considering to put in speed bumps to curtail the speeding problem, but in the meantime I want to encourage everyone to hold up Tayshawn’s mother and father,” Wheatley stated, adding that the real test of friendship is when the community is there for the family.

“It is a sad day, but I appeal to everyone to allow the law to run its course. I have great confidence in the police and the system to deliver justice,” he said, visibly trying to defuse any potential flare-up.

Bishop Omar Ricketts, pastor of Harmony Gospel Chapel, located in the community, offered prayers for the family on the spot, declaring that the community is resilient and will weather the storm.

“A baby will be missing on a bed forever and a mother will be grieving, so let us continue to give our support and help to restore peace through the word of God,” Ricketts encouraged the residents.

The grey Suzuki motor car that allegedly hit the infant, afterwards crashed into a utility pole about 20 metres further down the road, before hitting 63-year-old Lyn McDonald (no relations to the deceased), who was standing near the pole. She is reportedly in a stable condition in hospital.

The four men who were occupants of the car left the scene before angry residents set fire to the vehicle. They later turned themselves in at the Spanish Town police station. Investigations are continuing in the matter, the police say.