Georgetown man killed in bike accident

The risky activity of motor biking has claimed another life here.

Dead is 50-year-old electrician Jamie ‘Pretty Boy’ Michael, who fell at around noon Monday, February 22 in the area of the Brighton gap.{{more}}

Michael, from Chili, Georgetown, was on his way home when he crashed the Kawasaki KLR 650 bike, owned by his son Esron Harper.

Michael later died at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH).

Speaking from his home on Wednesday, Harper, who is a police officer attached to the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), said that he is deeply saddened by the tragic passing of his father.

“Me and he real close, real tight, he was more than a father. He was my father, my best friend, everything to me. We used to sit down and talk every day,” said Harper who added that his father was in the process of constructing a master bedroom for him when he died.

“…Every day he would say he really wanted it to finish so I can get in; we were real close, when I go work and I come home, we would speak about our day,” revealed the distraught man who said that his father would have celebrated his 51st birthday on August 14.

“I still can’t believe my father dead. His vehicle is parked in the same position and sometimes I find myself listening for the bike to come home and seeing him.”

Harper said that on the day his father died, he met him in Kingstown and Michael asked him if he should leave the motorbike for him to ride home.

“…I said no because I had to work at Parliament. He was calling me asking me if I want he to leave the bike for me or should he ride it home and I said ride it home because I wasn’t sure when I would finish working,” recalled Harper.

He said after he spoke with his father he went to the Police Canteen upstairs the vegetable market after which he received a call from a young lady telling him that she saw his bike and that his father was on the ground, “like he dead or can’t move.”

Harper said that he ran downstairs and went to the scene of the crash but was told that his father was at the MCMH so he went there.

When he arrived at the hospital, Harper learnt that his father had a collapsed spleen, internal bleeding and a damaged hip. He underwent surgery, but succumbed to his injuries that day.

“Right now, I just can’t accept the fact that he gone, although he gone and I see him on the table. The last thing I do when he come out the operating room is hug him and kiss him because honestly speaking, he is a part of me and will always be and I will always have a place in my heart for my father.

I’m the image of him; we were the same. Every decision I made, he use to be a part of it and every decision he made, I use to be a part of it.

He really loved his children and I know where he is now. He prefer that it was him and not one of us,” Harper said while noting that his father was a very good rider who had close to 30 years riding experience.

“He was real talented, anything you show him he would grasp right away,” said Harper.

“It hurt my heart because on my way to the hospital, I keep on saying that he was going to make it because he’s strong. But when I reach hospital, dem tell me he’s gone, so that tear up my inside,” said Damian.

He said that his father taught him everything he knew about fixing electronic devices and also passed on his electrician skills to him.

“He was a cool, quiet, nice guy. He used to tell us if anything happen to him like what happen now, we must not sell his tools but keep up the work and make something of ourselves,” Damian explained.

Michael was the father of nine children; six boys and three girls. He is the third road fatality for 2016 but the first person to die on a motorcycle this year.(LC)