A tragic fatal crash off a poorly maintained Bahamian bridge has reignited long-simmering calls for critical infrastructure upgrades, after a retired prison officer who was days away from reuniting with his family lost his life in an incident his loved ones say was entirely preventable.
Preston McKenzie, a 60-something retired corrections official who had recently moved back to Exuma to be closer to extended family, was scheduled to board a flight to New Providence on April 30 to reunite with his wife and three children. He never arrived for the trip, and his body was later recovered from his partially submerged overturned blue Honda Civic near the Barraterre bridge, according to law enforcement and family statements.
Authorities confirmed that the George Town Police Station received the initial distress call shortly before noon on April 30, after a local resident spotted the vehicle in the water off the bridge’s northern end. The good Samaritan used a hand tool to gain access to the car and helped pull McKenzie’s body from the wreckage before officers arrived. A local physician pronounced McKenzie dead at the scene, and preliminary police investigations indicate the driver lost control of the vehicle, causing it to veer off the curved bridge into the water below.
For McKenzie’s daughter, Pruzyia McKenzie, the tragedy is not an accident — it is the avoidable consequence of years of unaddressed safety hazards on the Barraterre bridge. In an emotional interview, she explained that the family grew concerned after her father stopped responding to messages and missed his scheduled flight. The family soon received the devastating confirmation from a relative in Exuma that his body had been found in the water.
Evidence from the scene backs up the family’s claims of long-standing danger. Video footage obtained by The Tribune shows McKenzie’s vehicle submerged after crossing over the bridge’s inadequate guardrail, with barely any visible signage warning drivers of the sharp curve ahead or the bridge edge. Pruzyia McKenzie noted that her father was not the first driver to go off the bridge — two previous motorists survived similar incidents, but she says repeated warnings about the structure’s flaws have gone unheeded.
McKenzie was described by his daughter as a loving, humble man with a contagious joyful energy, who often served as the center of social gatherings. After a decades-long career in corrections where he recruited dozens of new officers — many of whom are now grieving his loss — he had been preparing to launch a new small business ahead of the upcoming annual Barraterre festival. The last video his family received from him, taken the night he is believed to have crashed, shows him sharing a toast with friends and repeatedly saying he was bound for heaven.
Pruzyia McKenzie says the stiffness of her father’s body when it was recovered suggests he had been in the water for more than 12 hours, meaning emergency responders were not alerted to the crash until long after he was gone. She added that the bridge’s core hazards — non-existent nighttime lighting, a sharp curve that restricts driver visibility, insufficient guardrails, and a total lack of proper warning signage — make it a death trap waiting for more victims. Her family’s greatest hope now is that McKenzie’s death will finally force authorities to carry out the long-overdue upgrades, so no other family has to plan a funeral instead of welcoming a loved one home.
“My daddy was supposed to be here,” Pruzyia McKenzie said through tears. “We were expecting to see my daddy not plan a funeral. We don’t want another life lost to this dangerous bridge.”