UPDATE: Police say no chase in bus crash

Jerome Reynolds, Gleaner Writer

The Head of the Police Traffic Division is dismissing claims that Transport Authority inspectors and police personnel were chasing a bus this morning when it crashed killing 15-year-old schoolboy Lennox Lloyd.

According to Senior Superintendent Radcliffe Lewis the driver began to speed after he saw a police vehicle which was on a mission unrelated to a police operation.

SSP Lewis who is also a board member of the Transport Authority says the driver then made his way in the direction of the Portmore Town Centre when he met up on a team of police personnel and Transport Authority personnel who were conducting an operation.

READ: Bus overturns killing boy in Transport Authority chase

SSP Lewis said the driver sped away to avoid the operation and on reaching the vicinity of the Maxie Department Store the driver crashed into a wall and ended up into a ditch, killing the student and injuring others.

He said inspectors made a decision a year ago not to chase vehicles.

Meanwhile eyewitnesses have refuted the policeman’s claims insisting that the bus was being chased this morning.

radio@gleanerjm.com