Man admits to dangerous driving which claimed cop’s life

by Emmanuel Joseph

Young driver admits to causing policeman’s death three and a half years ago.

A man who pleaded guilty today to causing the death of a police station sergeant by dangerous driving three years ago, will know his fate next Friday.

When Tre Murray, then age 23 of Spring Hall, St Lucy appeared before No. 2 High Court Judge Randall Worrell, he admitted to causing the death of Clifford Bridgeman on Sunday, March 26, 2017 along Carrington Road and its junction with Edgecombe Hill Road, St Philip.

After defence attorney Shian Lange and Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale completed submissions on the crash that involved five vehicles, Justice Worrell said he would hand down his sentence on November 13.

Seale told the court that the deadly incident happened just after 6 p.m. following a car racing event at Bushy Park in St Philip and at a time when traffic on Highway 5 was heavy heading towards Bridgetown.

According to evidence before the court, Murray was driving at an excessive speed on the fateful day, so fast, that even after hitting several vehicles and going air borne, the car travelled a distance of 232 feet before coming to rest in a grassy area.

In fact, Deputy DPP Seale said that accident reconstructionist Roger Mayers concluded that Murray was driving in excess of 120 kilometers per hour.

The court heard from the senior prosecutor that when one considered that having travelled over 200 feet from first impact to the resting place and even after colliding with all the vehicles, the car driven by Murray should normally have slowed down.

He submitted that the young driver was racing and his conduct on the road that day was reckless.

He pointed to the evidence which revealed that Murray was speeding behind two other vehicles which managed to avoid colliding with an approaching car while overtaking another vehicle.

However, Seale lamented that even though the space between the two vehicles going in opposite directions had eventually narrowed significantly, the convicted man still tried to overtake resulting in his car hitting both vehicles.

According to the evidence, Murray, whose car by now appeared to be out of control proceeded in the right lane until the front section of his vehicle collided with the right rear end of a third car traveling in the opposite direction.

As it proceeded through a grassy area, the defendant’s car then slammed into the passenger side of the police van which was stationary at the Edgecombe Hill Road junction.

Station Sergeant Bridgeman who was sitting in that front seat was knocked into the back of the van and died on the spot from multiple injuries while his colleague sustained injuries that forced him onto the medical unfit list.

The evidence showed that the left rear wheel of Murray’s car left an imprint on the left front door/fender of the police vehicle before going air borne.   The police van was pushed by the impact across Edgecombe Hill Road before coming to a halt by a four-inch concrete sidewalk.

Murray emerged from his car with minor injuries after it had flipped over and landed on its roof.

In an almost inaudible tone, an emotional Murray apologized to the police officer’s family in a statement he read from the dock.

“It is also very hard for me. I take responsibility,” he told the court.

In mitigation, his attorney pleaded with the court to give her client a suspended sentence and a suspension of his driver’s licence, arguing that while the offence was serious, it did not merit imprisonment.

However, the Deputy DPP disagreed and called for a “sharp, short shot” of jail.

But he told the court that while the maximum sentence for this crime was ten years, it should not be a “long one”. (EJ)