O’Neil King, a 27-year-old Manager at the Princess Hotel, who survived a police shooting in 2003, died yesterday morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) after suffering serious injuries in an accident late Friday.
King, a father of a four-year-old son, was moving along the eastern corridor of the East Bank Highway when he reportedly lost control of his car and smashed into a concrete structure at the base of a traffic light in Eccles.
Cleopatra Wharton, King’s grandmother, yesterday said that despite her grandson’s injuries he was well enough to interact with family when they visited him at the hospital on Saturday.
Wharton said that when she asked him if he had any memory of the accident, he said, “Granny another vehicle was involved in this accident.”
However, by the time King’s rescuer had removed him from his wrecked car there was no sign of any other car which might have been involved. The woman speculated that the car might have left the scene after the accident.
King was rushed to the GPHC by a close friend who happened to be passing at the time.
Wharton said that while visiting King at the hospital the man asked about the condition of his car and was told that it was “ok.” She said that she felt she had to lie to him because of his condition.
“I told him it was ok because I didn’t like the way he was behaving. He was somehow panicky, and he was breathing very short, he was nervous and he was explaining the pain he was feeling in his abdomen.”
The family was later told by doctors that King had suffered a perforated intestine. In addition his left heel had been badly injured.
She said “they took him back to the theatre but before they did that his blood pressure went very low so they had to resuscitate him first. When he came out they had to give him, blood, saline, oxygen etc.”
After receiving this round of medical treatment relatives say that all seemed well.
The family would however receive a call from the hospital around 11:00hrs yesterday informing them that King was dead.
Wharton explained that the family is still in the dark about what exactly led to King’s accident since the vehicle which King said was involved was nowhere to be seen.
Though King eventually succumbed to his injuries the woman praised the efforts of the man who stopped to assist her grandson.
Ten years ago, King, Yohance Douglas, and three other friends were making their way home from a basketball game when police officers opened fire on the car they were travelling in. Douglas was killed in the shooting, while King and another friend were injured.
King was described as a jovial person who was always smiling. (Chevy Devonish)
