A female cop passes away unexpectedly
Kimari Tucker
The police department has lost one of its brightest. Sergeant Kimari Tucker passed away this morning at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where she had been admitted since last Sunday. Tucker collapsed as result of a massive stroke while at a concert at the ITVET compound and she never regained consciousness. Just prior to her death, the cop was hemorrhaging on the brain and this morning she lost the fight for her life. As her family comes to grips with her death, the police department is also reeling from the tragedy. Duane Moody has her story.
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Duane Moody, Reporting
Relatives, friends and former co-workers of forty-two year old Kimari Tucker gathered at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital this morning to say their goodbyes to the female police sergeant; she passed away around ten-thirty a.m. Despite her vibrant, effervescent personality and strong will, Tucker was a hypertensive patient. The silent killer took its toll on Tucker this past Saturday while she attended a concert at the ITVET Compound; she suffered a massive stroke that rendered her brain dead.
Nissan Gillett, Sister of Deceased
Nissan Gillett
“Kimari had a history of hypertension and on Saturday she was really excited; she wanted to go to the concert so she went out to the concert and she collapsed while she was there. Luckily there were police officers there and they rushed her to Karl Heusner Hospital where they found that she was unresponsive. They were able to do CPR and they put her on life support. They had a really small heartbeat and they were able to put her on life support. Her diagnosis was because of her history of hypertension, she had a massive stroke and it caused bleeding in her head. So that left her brain dead. Unfortunately, Kimari allowed us not to have to make that decision and she did that on her own; we did not have to make the decision of turning off the machines because her vitals went down quickly this morning and her heart just stopped breathing. Because she was brain dead already, there was nothing that they could do and she ended up passing away.”
Tucker was a career officer with the Belize Police Department. At the tender age of sixteen, she joined the force serving a total of twenty-five years before she met her demise. Inspector Fitzroy Yearwood, a colleague of hers within the department, says that Tucker was family and that the department has lost one of its best officers.
Inspector Fitzroy Yearwood
Inspector Fitzroy Yearwood, Former Colleague of Deceased
“We’re more like brother and sister than friends. We have been friends for so long; I cannot name the amount of years and on a daily basis we would interact with each other…we would check on each other. When I got the news on Sunday, I completely blanked out because it’s like you are not expecting it. Even though I knew she had hypertension, no one would expect that kind of devastating news. When I got the news this morning, it was even more mind-boggling. Nevertheless we are here for each other; we support each other—not only as a member of the police department, but also as a member of this community. Very authoritative; she was a person that you can depend on. Whenever you give her an assignment, expect results. She was always at work, on time. She was the last to leave; was concerned about everybody’s well-being. At once, I was at the precinct near UB, Caribbean Shores; where she was my deputy and I can really say that she was reliable, reliable.”
Nissan Gillett
“Whenever I think about Kimari and being a police officer, it always brings a smile to my face because she always wanted to be a police officer. As soon as she graduated high school, at the age of sixteen, she enlisted in the police force and she graduated successfully. She’s been there over thirty years, got many awards and she was a sergeant when she passed away today and she was very passionate about her job; she loved it a lot.”
Sister, Nissan Gillett, says that Kimari was the strength of the family.
Nissan Gillett
“I’m gonna miss the most that she was the life of our family; she held us together. She was the dad I never had; she is the sister everybody dreams of having; she is the best friend that I will ever have. So that’s what I am going take with her—her fun, outgoing, honest spirit.”
The eldest of six children, Tucker, leaves behind three kids—two boys and one girl. Duane Moody for News Five.
Tucker will be laid to rest on Saturday in Belize City.
Unexpected death? I don’t think so. The handwriting was on the wall ‘laang time.’ The members of the BPD, including and especially its head, think obesity is a big joke. Horrible diet, no serious exercise regimen, and ha ha ha. The commissioner once remarked that BMI does not apply in Belize. “Dat da deh american ting deh, heh heh.” Diabetes is largely a lifestyle disease, and Kimari was restrained in the cocoon of ignorance by peer pressure and peer influence. People try to beg off by attributing it to genetics: “Oh, mi granny mi gat it, aan mi ma gat it.” Belize will be stuck in the miasma of sweet blood for two more generations at least because there is no way on earth we as a people will give up snow cones, ideal, jam roll, rum, coca cola, fanta, three spoons of sugar in your tamarind juice, fudge, powder buns, cottobrute, and coconut pie any time soon. Even the doctors treating your diabetes are fat.
I don’t think this is the forum to express our national issue of public obesity . For the record she had a history of hypertension she was not a diabetic. There are a lot of not dietary factors that contribute to hypertension.
I must express that Kimari Tucker was a very dear friend indeed. Whenever you would be having a bad day just talk to Kimari and she would definitely make you laugh your heart out. Like Fitzroy rightly mentioned, she was a dependable and charismatic person. She will be sadly missed. RIP Kimari!