The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ANTONIO Cheribin Jr was spending time with friends and visiting bars shortly before he crashed into a trailer Monday night, tragically losing his life just weeks after his father’s passing.

Cheribin, a security worker known as “Tones”, reportedly travelled alone on a scooter when he collided with a Super Value trailer.

He was taken to the Carmichael Road Police Station, where EMS pronounced him dead. His death was the country’s fourth traffic fatality this year.

Cheribin’s childhood friend, Darius McKinney, said they had met earlier that night at a bar on Faith Avenue, where he bought Cheribin a beer. The two then went bar hopping and agreed to meet at another location, but Cheribin never arrived.

McKinney said he returned to their previous spot and saw Cheribin, who told him he had something to do. That was the last time McKinney saw him alive.

“I wanted him to come ride with me,” he told The Tribune. “The last thing he told me was ‘bey, I can’t even ride with you, I’m going to deal with something right now’.”

Mr McKinney said Cheribin’s death is a shock to all who knew him.

“I just had to wake today to come the realisation,” he said. “So, like, if I show you a picture of my face right now, bags under my eyes. I ain’t sleep yet.”

He added that his friend, whom he described as loyal, had endured a difficult few months before his death.

He said after losing his father late last year, Cheribin was kicked out of his home and was looking for a place to live.

“Every time I see him, I show him bey we need our own place, we need to (upgrade) from where we is,” he said.

Despite his circumstances, Mr Mckinney said he tried to do his best.

Superintendent Coran Jennings, second in command of the traffic division, appealed for motorists to follow traffic rules and regulations.

“For the year, this is our fourth fatality, two here in New Providence, one in Grand Bahama, one in Bimini. Us here in New Providence at the traffic division, we are going to continue to push the narrative of safety and enforcement and incentivisation to the public for safe drivers,” he said.