Ritches, Clarendon – Pierre Bell and Horatio Denton, the drivers of two of four cars that collided last Friday leaving four cops and two civilians injured, are booked to appear in court on August 12.

Bell has been charged with dangerous driving and having no insurance coverage, while Denton has been slapped with charges of careless driving. Both men are to appear in the Mandeville Resident Magistrate’s Court.

The accident occurred along the McKinson Hill Road in northwest Clarendon at about 10:45 pm. A police service vehicle from the Spalding station, which was headed towards Cumberland, was involved in a collision with three other motor cars in the Ritches community. The other vehicles involved in the accident were:

. a grey Nissan Sentra registered 1054 DY and driven by Orlando Johnson,

. a 1998 red Honda Civic registered 1790 EH and driven by Horatio Denton, and

. a gold Honda Accord registered 6758 EF and driven by Pierre Bell. The men are all from Clarendon.

According to police reports all three civilian cars, which were coming from the direction of Cumberland, were travelling at very high speeds. On reaching the brow of a hill in Ritches, the Honda collided with the police service vehicle, which was travelling in the opposite direction, cops said.

The two other civilian cars, which were travelling fairly close to the Honda, ran into each other. The impact of the collision caused the Honda Accord to travel 77 feet after hitting the police car.

As a result of the pile-up, Police Corporal F Manning from the Spalding police station received serious head injuries, a dislocated hip and broken ribs and had to be transferred to the Kingston Public Hospital. He has since been transferred to the St Joseph’s Hospital and the police federation is taking care of his medical bills.

Shortly after the crash, a constable and two district constables were taken to the Percy Junior Hospital. One of the DCs – along with two civilians who were travelling in two separate cars and had received minor injuries – was treated and released the same night. On Monday, DC Chester Beil, who is assigned to the Asia police station, was transferred to the Kingston Public Hospital. He had serious injuries, including a broken leg.

Ritches residents, some of whom helped to take the injured persons from their mangled vehicles, said it appeared that the men in the three civilian cars were racing.

“I could hear the high-speed chasing from at least half-a-mile away, before dem pass my yard; and then a big crash sound just as dem reach the brow of the hill,” said Lodrick Robinson, a farmer from the area.

“A we have to help to take dem outa di car dem as dem (the cars) mash up bad.”

All three drivers were given breathalyser tests but the results were negative.