Lynford Simpson, Staff Reporter
TEN buses belonging to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) were damaged after being stoned by the cronies of a man who the police reported was fatally stabbed during a dispute with a driver employed to the state-owned bus company on Friday afternoon.
Following the stoning incident, which took place between Friday and yesterday morning, the JUTC was forced to re-route a number of its buses to prevent them driving along Spanish Town Road, Waltham Park Road or in the Three Miles area. The buses were being ambushed by men travelling in vehicles, a supervisor at the JUTC's Ashenheim Road depot told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.
The men are reportedly from the Waterhouse community where the bus driven by the slain driver terminated.
The buses that were temporarily withdrawn were numbers 30, which runs between Pembroke Hall and downtown Kingston via Waltham Park Road; 31 and 31A, between Meadowbrook and downtown Kingston via Duhaney Park and Spanish Town Road; and 22 and 22A, between Spanish Town and downtown Kingston via Spanish Town Road.
Unconfirmed reports are that some Portmore buses were re-routed along Washington Boulevard yesterday to prevent them from going along Marcus Garvey Drive where they were also being targeted.
The police have confirmed that 34-year-old Everette Salmon, otherwise called "Juggo" of Olympic Way, Kingston 11, was fatally stabbed during a dispute along Hagley Park Road on Friday. According to the Constabulary Communi-cation Network (CCN), Mr. Salmon was driving a Toyota Hiace minibus which collided with a JUTC bus in the vicinity of Olympic Way.
The JUTC driver and Mr. Salmon became involved in a dispute, during which Mr. Salmon was reportedly stabbed in the neck and back. He was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital where he later died. The driver of the JUTC bus fled the scene and is being sought by the police.
Easton Allen, general manager at the JUTC's Ashenheim Road depot, told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that only two of the damaged buses were from his depot, the others being from the Spanish Town facility. He said both were damaged near the Three Miles roundabout while transporting staff at about 8 p.m. Friday. He claimed that following the accident with the "robot" the JUTC driver was attacked while still in his bus.
Meantime, Sterling Soares, JUTC president, while denoun-cing the stoning incident, moved quickly to reassure commuters that the police have already taken action to guarantee their safety. A statement issued by the JUTC yesterday said a strong police presence was being maintained in sections of Hagley Park, Waltham Park and Spanish Town roads, and Marcus Garvey Drive.
