By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

TWO best friends, including an off-duty police officer, are dead and a woman is fighting for her life in hospital after the car they were in crashed into a utility pole early on Friday morning.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean said police are still unsure of the circumstances surrounding the accident, which happened shortly after 4am off Malcolm Road, but they suspect speed was a factor.

Police have identified the victims as 23-year-old officer Wesley Nicholas Gaitor, the father of a six-month-old child, and Travis Delano Sweeting, 22, who was the driver of the car. ACP Dean confirmed that the officer - who was attached to the Wulff Road station - was off duty at the time of the accident. Sweeting worked at Atlantis.

They were understood to be returning from a party to their Pinewood homes when the accident happened. Relatives said the two men had been best friends since primary school.

"Shortly after 4am, police received information of a traffic accident on East Street South and Malcolm Road. When officers arrived on the scene they met a vehicle, a white Chevy Malibu, crashed into a utility pole," ACP Dean said.

"Officers discovered the lifeless body of two males inside. A female, who was in the back seat, received serious injuries and was taken to the hospital where she is listed as serious. This is the only car we met on the scene and it is mashed pretty badly. We suspect speed was a factor in this incident but investigations continue."

In a statement, the Royal Bahamas Police Force Cadets said the loss of PC 3657 Gaitor "is a sad day for the force".

"Gaitor was indeed an officer and a gentleman. Well mannered, professional and he loved policing. This news is indeed tragic and most unfortunate," the statement said. "We extend condolences to his daughter, parents, grand mother, family members, the Royal Bahamas Police Force Family, and Police Cadets family and his friends. May God give you peace and comfort you during this most difficult time. May his soul rest in peace."

Anyone with information on this accident is asked to call police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS.