THE CHAIRMAN of COPS Guyana Ltd, Attorney-at-law/ Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Gregory Gaskin, died on Wednesday evening at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, following an accident at Timehri, East Bank Demerara. He was 64. A source close to Gaskin said he was riding his motor cycle on the South Dakota Circuit, at around 15:00 hrs, when he fell off the cycle and suffered life-threatening injuries. Gaskin was at the time in company of his son Graham, his driver, and others. He was rushed to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, where he was still alive on arrival.
Relatives surmise that the security chief may have suffered a blackout, causing him to fall off his bike as he was negotiating a turn on the racing circuit. It is also likely he may have suffered some head injuries, since the front of his helmet was said to have been broken.
Gaskin arrived at Mercy Hospital alive, but later developed breathing complications, brought on as a result of broken rib bones and a punctured lung. He succumbed moments later.
News of the death of the GAPSO Chairman and former renowned military functionary sent shock waves across the nation; and relatives, workmates and business associates hurried down to the hospital to confirm their worst fears.
Security staffers at the COPS Lamaha Street Headquarters were in a state of profound shock, as was his wife Noreen, at the untimely passing of one they held dear.
Contacted at home, Mrs. Gaskin was too consumed with grief to say anything, other than accept the condolences extended by this newspaper. She, however, said the blackout might have been caused by the heat, leather suit and enclosed helmet. She said her husband was rushed to the St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in an alert and conscious condition, but his condition deteriorated and she later learnt that he had broken ribs and those had punctured a lung.
His lung was filled with fluid and his abdomen became swollen. Efforts to revive Gaskin, an asthmatic, eventually failed, and plans to perform surgery failed.
A COPS Guyana clerk who was at the Gaskins residence said, “He was a generous guy. If you don’t have a job, he would find one and give you.”
Meanwhile, a pall of grief overshadowed the COPS offices, as employees lamented his passing but tried desperately to keep composed.
Gregory Gaskin, who was also past President of the Guyana Bar Association, was at the time of his death President of the Guyana Association of Private Security Organizations (GAPSO), having been returned unopposed in 2010 to head the Executive body for the period 2010–2012. He leaves to mourn his wife, Mrs. Noreen Gaskin, son Graham, and daughter Genevia, and other relatives.
A post-mortem is to be performed on his body.