HOLIDAY HORROR

J’can family plunged into sorrow after young doctor dies in hit-and-run accident

BANDELE SANKOFA’S plans to watch the English Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United on Sunday were cut short by a horrific nightmare for him and his family after he received a call that his niece, Dr Nadia Dominique Morgan, 35, was killed in an alleged hit-and-run crash overseas.

The Baltimore Sun newspaper reported that according to police, Morgan was pronounced dead at the scene by the Baltimore County Fire Department medics, as the Subaru became engulfed in flames. The driver of the Acura TSX crashed into a fire hydrant and left the scene on foot but was arrested later.

FAMILY IN SHOCK

Sankofa, who is head of humanities at Wolmer’s Boys’ School in Kingston, said the entire family is in shock.

“I had actually just got in from church and was getting ready to watch the second half of the Liverpool and Manchester United match when a relative called and told me,” he recalled.

“We are all very distraught because it has come as a major shock to the entire family. We are trying to cope, but it is very difficult.”

He said from very early he recognised that his niece, a graduate of Immaculate Conception High School in St Andrew, was in love with the sciences. He said, however, that her high academic achievements over the years proved that she would have been successful in any area.

“She was bright, both in personality and her academic achievements. She was always dedicated to her work and I was always very proud of her achievements and all that she was doing ever since high school, and even before. She’s a pleasant person and always good to be around,” he told The Gleaner.

“From early I got the impression that she had a love for the sciences. She was good at almost every subject she touched.”

Morgan was a Jamaica-born recipient of the 2016 American College of Rheumatology Distinguished Fellow Award and a faculty member at Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center.