‘Crampy’s lethal fall from truck leaves family in pain
TWO days after celebrating his 25th birthday, Jevaughnie “Crampy” Gibson was on call at work when he fell from a moving truck on Wednesday, January 18, and hit his head on Waterloo Road in St Andrew.
Jevaughnie was then rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) where he was treated and released late Wednesday evening. His family assumed all was good, until they had to rush him back to the hospital Friday morning.
That time, the west Kingston man did not make it back home. Jevaughnie was pronounced dead about 3:00 am on Saturday.
“We don’t know of any X-rays, no nothing being done. They just gave him medication and send him out the same day, later in the night. He had a cut on his head back and they stitched it up. He also had some bruises on his face. Wednesday night when he came out he was there good, good; he was talking consciously and everything,”
Jevaughnie’s twin brother Devaughnie told the Jamaica Observer last Thursday.
“The Thursday, he was good. Him sleep Thursday morning go right into the night. At one point, he got up and went on the verandah and him couldn’t stand up too long. It is like him nerves did mash up. After that, a just bare sleep him sleep. Him not even did want to eat; a we [family] force him to eat. We had to force him to eat and take his pills, but I was talking to him and he was corresponding with me,” he added.
Devaughnie told the Sunday Observer that their mother, Calir Grant, has been deeply affected by the untimely loss. He, on the other hand, admitted that he tries not to speak about it at all for his own peace of mind.
“We never expected anything like this. Right now my mind not even deh here suh. Him a mi twin brother and a him born first — mi not even like fi talk about it. My mother, every day she get up and bawl. This shock the family… the whole family shocked,” he said.
“Me and my brother live in the same house, we sleep on the same bed, eat out of one plate, and wear one another clothes — everything. We went to the same primary school and then different high school — he went to Denham Town and me guh Greenwich All Age.”
Wistfully, Devaughnie recalled the last time he saw his twin brother on the morning of Friday, January 20, before he was rushed back to UHWI.
“When he woke up Friday morning we gave him a cup soup to drink. Then I see him blow out him nose and it was blood that came out. It was thick blood so they had to end up rush with him back to the hospital. Him start talk bare foolishness,” he said in a dejected tone.
Their mother, Grant, was present with Jevaughnie at the hospital.
“When they went back up there with him they did an X-ray and saw that his skull was cracked. He didn’t know himself at that point and they had to tie him down on a bed. This could have been treated from Wednesday and they sent him out.”
He said that the family wished not to name the company to which his brother was employed. He said the family is satisfied thus far with how the company has handled the tragic situation.
“The company has arranged for a nine night and funeral,” Devaughnie told the Sunday Observer.
“They said that after the funeral they will talk about compensation. My mother said she wasn’t ready to talk about it, so after the funeral they will talk about that.”
When the Sunday Observer reached out to the UHWI last Friday the hospital was not prepared to comment on the matter.
The hospital’s public relations and communication manager directed the Sunday Observer to Dr Carl Bruce, medical chief of staff, who said the matter should be referred to administration for it to be investigated.