Two homeless after JDF pickup runs into house

As they laid in their bed last Friday afternoon, Angela Williams and her daughter, Keisha, were awoken by the devastating sound of a vehicle plundering into their house.

Frightened out of their wits, they opened their eyes to find that a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) vehicle had run off the road, into their one-room board dwelling at Barbados Road in Waterhouse, St Andrew.

Angela's sister-in-law, Pamela Hassock, who was in her house a few metres away, recalled hearing the loud, crashing sound. She said that she ran to investigate and found that an army-green pickup truck had crashed into the house, making it inhabitable.

Before the accident, the vehicle, according to residents, was seen in a stationary position a few yards from the house on Barbados Road just after 2 p.m. on Friday. However, in a split second, it mowed down the zinc fence around Williams' house, flattened the verandah section of the house, and rocked the living quarters off its foundation. Furniture, items of clothing and all the occupant's personal belongings were scattered among the ruins. Luckily, the residents were not badly hurt.

"A nuh normal supme. A God save dem," Hassock said.

Williams' other daughter, who requested not to be named, told THE STAR that her mom and sister are challenged, and that the loss of their home will make their lives even more difficult.

"My mom is not suh hundred, so this is where she lives. My sister is sick. Basically, she can't walk properly, she's literally sick. She used to go to the School of Hope, so you know how sick she is. Now this happened they are literally homeless. They kotch two night somewhere but dem nah guh put har up forever. She need back har house. She nah nuh bed, she nah nuh stove everything mash up," the daughter said.

Angela and Keisha, according to their family member, were in state of shock after Friday's bizarre accident. She recalled being at work when she got the phone call that they were taken to hospital because a JDF vehicle had run into their house.

"Me went down the hospital and when she see me mother, she just frightened. She just screamed out! She just cried! She nuh know how fi react, she just a seh she wah back har house. She ask a weh she a guh live. A dem things deh she a fret pon. My sister, she was just crying, cause she caah talk, suh she caah explain wah she a go through, so she was just crying," the relative said.

Repeated attempts to contact the JDF proved futile yesterday. However, the Olympic Gardens Police Station has confirmed that a report has been made about the incident at the station.