Monique Hepburn, Staff Reporter
( left ) Employees from The Gleaner Company inspect the overturned delivery truck that collided with a Prado sport utility vehicle along the Coral Gardens main road in St. James yesterday morning. Cedric Evangelist, Gleaner Company driver, was killed in the accident. ( Right ) The mangled remains of the Prado Sport Utility Vehicle that was being driven by Rayne Russell. - PHOTOS BY HERBERT MCKENIS/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
WESTERN BUREAU:
SIXTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Gleaner driver Cedric Evangelist was killed in a traffic accident on the Coral Gardens main road in St. James yesterday.
Mr. Evangelist, who has been employed to The Gleaner Company for eight years, was killed when the truck in which he was transporting the company's premier product The Sunday Gleaner crashed into a Prado driven by former national tennis player 19-year-old Rayne Russell.
Mr. Russell, of a Spring Farm address in the parish, is the son of former national tennis champion Richard Russell and the younger brother of reigning national champion Ryan Russell.
"At about 5:30 a.m. when we reached the Coral Gardens Police Station, we saw a Prado approaching on the right hand side. The driver was trying to beat the truck to turn at the police station," said Frederick Edwards, one of two sidemen who accompanied Mr. Evangelist.
"Mr. Evangelist swerved to avoid the Prado but it crashed into his driver side. The Prado fly into the air and our driver drop through the windshield. The truck overturn and skid and I stand up in the truck to balance myself. That is how I survived," said Mr. Edwards.
Mr. Evangelist, Mr. Edwards and another sideman, Errol Johnson, were taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where Mr. Evangelist was pronounced dead. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Edwards were treated for minor injuries.
Mr. Russell was taken to the MoBay Hope Diagnostic Centre and is listed in critical condition.
Gleaner staff were quick on the scene and were later joined by Mr. Evangelist's family, who journeyed from Kingston upon hearing news of the tragedy.
Anthony O'Gilvie, industrial relations manager, said that The Gleaner family is deeply saddened by the loss of one its own.
"It is a tragedy and our hearts go out to the family of Mr. Evangelist," he said.
