It does not get any stranger than this.
The Jamaica Observer reports this morning that police in Jamaica arrested a Carnival cruise passenger who jumped from Carnival’s Liberty while the cruise ship was in port in Ocho Rios.
It turns out that this was no ordinary passenger. The police arrested Harold Crooks who was the former commandant in the Island Special Constabulary Force in Jamaica. He was a crime and security expert who had made recommendations to combat crime in Jamaica and other Caribbean islands. Crooks was under investigation for sexually assaulted a minor. Earlier this year, he had fled Jamaica to Canada. His Jamaican lawyer stated that Crooks would not return to Jamaica because he had no faith in the justice system there.
The Jamaica Observer reports that Crooks dared local cops to come get him in Canada if they “could stand the cold.” Well, it turns out that it was Crooks who couldn’t stand the cold in Canada by booking a cruise from the U.S. back to Jamaica! When he found out that the police were coming to get him, he put on a life preserver and jumped overboard.
Now he will get the face the heat.
Credits:
Harold Crooks photograph Rudolph Brown / Jamaica Gleaner