Truck driver remembered as “easy going”

Elvis Edwards died after it is believed he was electrocuted when his truck touched an electrical wire. The trucker is being remembered as a quiet person.
On Sunday, Edwards, affectionately known as “Rock-I” or “Strong man,” was operating a rig-truck when the metal 40-foot storage container he was towing reportedly came into contact with an electrical wire.
People, who reported they were on the scene when the incident happened, told OBSERVER media that the trucker jumped from his seat and ran approximately 25-feet before collapsing.
They said that 55-year-old Edwards was wearing a t-shirt, a pair of short pants and slippers and was still breathing and “somewhat alert,” shortly after the accident.
Two ambulances responded to the scene, and Emergency Medical Services personnel were captured on video working feverishly to resuscitate the New Winthorpes man who was pronounced dead at Mount St. John’s Medical Centre.
Tracy Hazelwood recalled her stepfather as very reserved.
Originally of Old Road, Hazelwood said Edwards has been operating heavy-duty vehicles for over a decade and rides motorcycles. She said he left home Sunday morning and told his long-time live-in spouse, Hyacinth Thomas, her mother, that he would be back shortly, after moving a container.
“My cousin who lives just there [nearby] rushed into the yard saying mom needed to go to the hospital quickly because “Rock-I” got shocked, but, it sounded like he said shot. My brother took her and when she got there she had to wait a while and then the doctors took her into a room,” Hazelwood said.
The stepdaughter recounted that other relatives were told the trucker had died, but she was refusing to accept what she was hearing and awaited word from her mother.
“When they said he is at the hospital, I just thought it was something minor and he would have been admitted. My sister said she was told he died, I waited to hear from mommy,” Hazelwood said. “The doctors told her he didn’t make it…she got to see him afterward.”
Hazelwood said her stepfather had been in her life for approximately 20 years and his death has left the family devastated; including her six-year-old son who did not sleep Sunday night after he learned Edwards had died.
The trucker had five children of his own.
Reminiscing on the man she has known almost all her life, the New Winthorpes woman said Edwards spent most of his time at home when he was not working or running errands on the weekend, and he would often sit on the verandah listening to music and greeting people as they went about their business.
Police said an autopsy will have to be conducted at a later date.