By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE tragic death of an Abaco teen has left relatives inconsolable in the days following the country’s first recorded traffic fatality of the year.

Terrado Hield told The Tribune that he loved Jamarion Russell, 17, like a little brother and has been crying uncontrollably ever since.

Jamarion Russell had recently graduated from SC Bootle High School, according to Hield, who said he struggled at first to accept that his cousin was no longer alive.

“I went to the scene the next day by myself to get, like, a full grasp and to come to the reality that it’s real,” Mr Hield said.

“I saw the car just to verify and come to reality.”

The teenager was driving a white Honda vehicle in the area of Blackwood on SC Bootle Highway when he reportedly lost control of the car and ran into bushes on the northern side of the street. According to police, the traffic accident occurred at 8.10pm last Thursday.

Family members gathered at the Russell home, where they cried, grieved, and comforted each other.

Mr Hield, 24, said he was about to go to sleep when his phone began “ringing off the hook” with calls that Mr Russell had been hurt in a car accident.

He underscored his close-knit friendship with Mr Russell, adding they would visit each other daily as they both lived in the north Abaco area.

He described Mr Russell as a slow-tempered, outgoing, and mature person.

Asked how he was coping, Mr Hield said: “Just basically crying to be honest, like uncontrollably crying. I’ll be talking to someone, and I’ll just burst out in tears.”

The teenager’s family said the recent graduate was a hard worker who often took on multiple jobs and was determined to make a sustainable income.

Mr Hield said he missed being able to talk to his cousin, noting the victim never judged him.

“When I was 17 years old, I wasn’t able to understand stuff like he did,” he said. “He just was mature enough to understand quicker.”

Jamarion was the youngest and only boy in a family of five sisters.