The Cayo District saw its third fatal motorcycle accident in the span of a week last night. 30-year-old Nikki Waight was heading back into San Ignacio Town to close off his shift after 11 last night when he lost control of his motorcycle. Shortly after, a woman was also injured in that same accident.
But for Waight's family, it's an unexpected and devastating tragedy that has left a mother of three with only two sons.
Courtney Menzies went west to speak with her. Here is that story.
30-year-old Nikki Waight works the night shift at the San Ignacio Police Station, from 4 in the evening to 12 in the morning. Last night he was on patrol on his motorcycle when he got into an accident on the low-lying bridge that cost him his life.
ACP Hilberto Romero, OCED
"Investigation revealed that Nikki Waight was driving a motorcycle, he was on duty at the time heading to the San Ignacio police station when he lost control of the motorcycle. He fell and received fatal injuries. At the same time Jessica Escobar was coming across the bridge and she hit the motorcycle and she received injuries. She's presently in a stable condition. Investigation is being carried out."
Just a few hours before his death, he was visiting his mother - something he does every day. She told us she was sleeping when her brother-in-law gave her the devastating news.
Evette Waight, Mother of Deceased
"Afterwards when he called back and said, yes, he died, I don't know. I run crazy, I didn't know what to do because I didn't expect that to happen to my son. My son comes here before he goes to work, he comes here for a few hours before he goes to work and then he said, mom, I'm going to work, and I told him, okay son, take care of yourself. I didn't expect that to happen."
That's because he'd been working as a cop for the last decade, and before that, he was a BDF soldier. His aunt explained that he always had a passion to help others.
Aunt of Deceased
"First he was in the cadet and then he used to participate and then when he got of age, he said he wanted to be a BDF because he liked to serve."
"It's very hard for us because he was coming from his work, it's not that he was jollying or anything, he was coming from his work and then he's young, he has his whole life in front of him and he had a daughter and he used to live for his daughter."
And right now, Waight's 8-year-old is mourning the father she recently got to know:
Aunt of Deceased
"Very hard because she was not here for a good while, she was across the line on Guatemala side so he just started to meet her and live with her and now this happened. She just started school here in Bullet Tree because he wanted her to be close to him so that's why he registered here so that when he comes everyday, he could take her home 2:30, help her with her work, because she lives in Santa Familia, so he would take her everyday and when he had the time he would go pick her up and take her."
And Waight had been riding motorcycles for the last three years, back and forth from his home in Belmopan, to his mother's home in Bullet Tree, and then his job site in San Ignacio. His family says he was a careful driver, and he was always the one to make them laugh.
Evette Waight, Mother of Deceased
"My son was a good young man, he was always there for me and anybody else."
Aunt of Deceased
"Nikki was always happy, you could say the clown of the family. Whenever we got together, he was the one who made us laugh. He would even dress up. One time we were playing queen and he was the one who dressed up and he was walking with his heels and his dress. He was the happy one in the family."
