AFTER 11 years of marriage, Jennifer Gayle is struggling to come to grips with the tragic death of her husband, 51 year-old Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus driver, Wilfred Gayle on Tuesday afternoon.

“He was a loving, kind and understanding person. I don’t know what I am going to do without him; he was the only breadwinner in the family,” she told the Observer, in an interview at the JUTC’s offices in Spanish Town on Wednesday.

She was asked to visit the office to collect his personal belongings as well as to discuss funeral and compensation issues.

Gayle was shot following a fatal accident involving his bus and a motorcyclist on Molynes Road in Kingston on Tuesday. The motorcyclist, Ricardo Bogle, 25, died on the spot after colliding with the JUTC bus being driven by Gayle. One of two other motorcyclists, believed to be friends of Bogle, later shot Gayle in the chest. He died at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) later that evening.

“Maybe if he had gotten prompt medical attention he wouldn’t have died,” said the grieving widow, who was being showered with sympathy by her husband’s co-workers. “He was taken first to Medical Associates Hospital, which said that they could not treat him. Then when he went to KPH, he was waiting for over three hours without going into surgery,” she said.

“I was told that he got there at about 12:30 pm and was examined. I got there about 3:30 pm and up to 4:00 pm he had not gone into surgery,” she claimed.

She told the Observer that about that time also she noticed that he was having trouble breathing. “I called the nurse and they tried to resuscitate him but it was too late,” she said.

Some of the Gayle’s claims were addressed by the JUTC’s executive chairman, Joseph Matalon, at a press conference on Wednesday. “From what I understand the driver was sent to KPH because Medical Associates is not equipped to deal with that level of trauma,” he said.

This was confirmed by assistant matron at Medical Associates, Sonia Burton.

“What we normally do is go out and examine a patient like that when he is in the ambulance. If it is more than we are equipped to deal with, we send him on to KPH,” Burton told the Observer yesterday.

She said, however, that they had no record of Gayle being taken there.

“The nurse that was on duty then does not remember dealing with him,” she said.

At the same time transport minister, Robert Pickersgill, said he was reassured by police officers who had taken Gayle to KPH that he had received immediate attention.

“I was told that he was examined as soon as he got there and sent straight to surgery,” Pickersgill said on Wednesday.

But Jennifer Gayle said the police had helped in providing escort service to the hospital for her husband but had not stayed long enough to see if he got surgery.

“My husband was examined when he just got there but there was some delay getting him to surgery because nobody was there to sign the paper giving permission,” she said. “His sister who got there before me had a very hard time being allowed in because it was not visiting hours. But she got in and signed the paper from about 2:30 pm.”

According to Gayle, her husband had spoken to her when she got there after 3:00 pm but seemed to be in a lot of pain. Half an hour later, she said, she noticed that he was not breathing properly. She said she alerted the nurse and despite their efforts made to resuscitate him he died.

Up until late yesterday the Observer was unable to get a clarification on the matter from the KPH. The newspaper was told that the senior medical officer, Dr Trevor McCarty, was the only person who could address the issue and he was out of office.

On Wednesday, the JUTC bus crews withdrew their services to express sympathy for their slain colleague as well as to express concern over their job security. But after reassurances of increased security measures they returned to work late Wednesday evening.

They were also told that the JUTC would cover the funeral expenses for their colleague and would also offer a compensation package of $800,000 to Gayle’s widow. A figure, Jennifer Gayle, said she was satisfied with.

“The JUTC, has been very good to me,” she said.

The JUTC driver also leaves behind two children, one 13 years and the other four.