In the quiet hours before dawn on a Sunday morning, a devastating motorcycle collision on Mahogany Street claimed three young lives, leaving one heartbroken grandmother to grapple with the senseless loss of a grandson loved by his entire community. Delphina Brooks, grandmother to 24-year-old Theodore “Smiley” Swazo, one of the crash victims, still carries the sharp trauma of the moment she learned of the accident and later saw her grandson unconscious in a hospital bed.
Brooks recounts that she was jolted from sleep just after midnight by an urgent knock against her window. A young acquaintance brought the terrible news: Swazo had been involved in a serious crash and rushed to emergency care. What unfolded next, as Brooks learned from witnesses, was a preventable tragedy rooted in careless motorcycle operation.
Swazo had been riding in a group of friends when his helmet slipped from his head mid-ride. The entire group slowed and turned back to recover the lost safety gear, putting Swazo at the rear of the small formation. As they waited, a speeding additional motorcycle collided straight into the group, striking Swazo with full force. “He was at the back and he flew over onto the pavement,” Brooks recalled of the brutal impact.
Outside of the tragic circumstances of his death, Brooks remembers her grandson as a warm, well-liked young man who lived for his young daughter. Just days before the crash, Swazo had returned home from a work contract on Caye, and carved out two full days to spend with his little girl, before stopping by to visit Brooks as well. “The last time he spent with his daughter was last week, Wednesday and Thursday, because he came from Caye Tuesday because he was working at Caye. And he spent time with his daughter those two days. He brought her here, came look for me,” she shared in an interview.
While Brooks has publicly stated she does not believe the crash was an intentional act of violence, she is using her family’s grief to push for urgent change around dangerous motorcycle operation in the community. “Make them stop drive cycle crazy,” she urged. “People life dih go for a motorcycle, innocent people life dih go.”
Swazo was not the only victim of the early morning collision. Allan Arnold and Darwin Monroy also lost their lives in the crash, leaving three separate families to mourn their losses. Assistant Superintendent of Police Stacy Smith confirmed in an official press briefing this afternoon that investigators have recovered one motorcycle helmet from the crash site, and the ongoing probe continues to piece together a full timeline of events to clarify all contributing factors. No further updates on charges or additional findings have been released as of the publication of this report.