Cop’s fatal hit-and- run case drags on
MONTEGO BAY, St James — An incomplete case file is holding up the trial of Dillon Reid, the St James man implicated in the October 2024 hit-and-run death of Constable Linroy Codner.
Twenty-five year-old Reid, otherwise known as CJ or Bulby, of Blackshop district in St James, was charged on February 28 following a ruling from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He is charged with causing death by dangerous driving, not having insurance coverage, driving dangerously, having no driver’s licence, failing to stop at the request of a constable, and not stopping after an accident. He is being represented by attorney-at-law Chumu Paris.
When the case was called up for mention in the St James Parish Court before presiding judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce on Wednesday, the prosecution revealed that the accident reconstruction report was still outstanding.
With that document pending, Grant-Pryce postponed the proceedings until May 7 and Reid was bound over to return to court on that date.
Codner sustained injuries while conducting a roadblock operation on Granville main road in St James on Friday, October 4, 2024.
Police report that Codner signalled a white Toyota Probox to stop. Instead of stopping, the vehicle slowed down but then quickly accelerated, colliding with the constable and sending him over a cliff, estimated at 50-70 feet deep.
Codner was taken to hospital where he received treatment for multiple brain injuries; however, he died on October 20.
Reid allegedly fled the scene of the October 4 incident and abandoned the vehicle in his neighbourhood. A search for the driver of the vehicle was immediately launched and Reid. The following day Reid — accompanied by his legal representative — surrendered to police.