TCI: 27-year-old man dies in terrible traffic accident

#TurksandCaicos, July 8, 2021 – Police say they are investigating what caused the two-car collision around 12:29am on Sunday, asking anyone with information on the deadly accident to inform police of what they saw as they try to get to the bottom of it. 

In cell phone video, you see and hear a man, clad in a green shirt, shouting “they need to come, they need to come” as he and another man tried to pry open the extensively damaged vehicle to get its lone passenger out. 

Police were on the scene, but no other emergency responder was evident in the video. 

The official report from TCI Police is a 27-year-old man died at hospital after being transported there by ambulance.  That man, we learned later on Sunday night was Shaquille Gardiner, a resident of Long Bay.  Gardiner, we are told was Bahamian born and spent much of his formative years in The Bahamas… but he had settled in well in Turks and Caicos. 

Employed as a ‘jack of all trades’ at Central Storage, Shaquille was described as young, genuinely a good person, bubbly.  An aunt in speaking to us said the family has suffered so much loss… it was another incredibly hard blow.   

A second car had front end damage and that driver was not hurt, informed the police statement. 

The statement said a white Ford Expedition was found overturned in the east bound lane with extensive damages; the accident happened near the All Saints Church on Leeward Highway.  Part of the church’s wall was destroyed in the crash. 

Images of the vehicle, circulating on social media are gut-wrenching.  Gardiner, obviously the driver of the Ford Explorer, was reportedly headed home at the time of the accident.