A Guyana-born New York City police officer who was vacationing in Guyana drowned on Sunday after he was swept away by raging, rapid-filled waters in a southwestern jungle and mountain region near the border with Brazil, police said here Wednesday.
Dead is Officer Gladstone Haynes who had spent more than a decade serving at the Flatbush Precinct in Brooklyn. Local police said Hayne, 43 and the mother of his children were swimming in the Orinduik Falls in the heavily forested Potaro Region when he went under raging waters propelled by rapids.
Police spokesman Mark Ramotar told this publication that his body was recovered by a search party early on Wednesday but he could give no more details.
He was a 17-year NYPD veteran and the son of a former Guyana police officer, officials said. He disappeared on Sunday during a double tour to Orinduik and the Kaieteur Falls which is listed as the world’s longest single drop waterfalls at more than 740 feet of continuous falling water.
Police, Guyana Defense Force special forces soldiers, tour guides and indigenous Indians from nearby villages were immediately deployed to help in rescue and recovery efforts “but the police commander for the region has reported that the body was found near the falls at about 6.30 this morning. We are not sure when they are going to fly it out to the city,” Ramator said.
Haynes’ partner was reportedly celebrating her birthday on Sunday when he was swept away by strong currents. The New York Police Department is assisting Guyanese authorities with investigations and the search.
