Water truck operators get hospital discharge after collision with Top Cop’s vehicle
Jonathan Ramkellawan and Basdeo Lallchan, the two men who were hospitalised after a Guyana Police Force vehicle transporting the Police Commissioner collided with their truck late last month, have been discharged and are recuperating at their respective homes.
The men told Stabroek News that they were both discharged from the Georgetown Public Hospital last week Tuesday. However, while Lallchan was sent home, Ramkellawan was referred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where he was admitted for an additional few days. He was sent home on Monday.
They said they have since both sought second opinions to ensure that they have not sustained other injuries than those detected and they were advised to rest.
“I can’t work for now. I can’t even walk. Every time I try fah get up with the crutch, the foot does start bleed,” Lallchan told this newspaper.
The men said that their main focus currently is to fully recover so that they can return to work in order to maintain their families.
Lallchan said he has since retained a lawyer to deal with the case.
The accident occurred around 2.45 pm on January 26th along the Covent Garden Public Road, on the East Bank of Demerara.
Lallchan, 37, of Lot 1718 Block X Diamond, East Bank Demerara, who was the driver of the truck, GWW 9079, sustained a broken leg, while his porter, Ramkellawan, 24, also a resident of Diamond, sustained a broken hip and injuries to his feet.
The force vehicle, a jeep with licence plate PSS 4796, was driven by Corporal Mark Smith. It was occupied by Commissioner of Police Leslie James and his personal assistant, Superintendent Alistair Roberts.
While James and Smith escaped unhurt, Roberts was admitted to the St Joseph Mercy Hospital, where he was nursing injuries to his shoulder. It is unclear whether he is still admitted.
The police, in a statement, had said that enquiries revealed that at the time of the accident, the police jeep was proceeding north along the western side of the western carriageway of the road with its beacon light and siren on, while the canter truck was proceeding in front in the same direction.
It added that as the jeep approached, the truck swerved from east to west and stopped. As a result, the jeep collided with it.
The truck subsequently collided with another truck and the jeep hit the rear of another vehicle that was parked on the western side of the road.
Last Wednesday, James had told reporters following an event held at Tactical Services Unit (TSU), Eve Leary that the accident was not a “special” matter and would be investigated like any other.
“Just as how we would normally do investigations, we would take statements and investigate, this is a matter just as such. It’s not a special matter, I must tell you that,” James had said.
The men had blamed the police driver for the accident and said that he should be held accountable.
Lallchan had confirmed that he was proceeding on the western side of the western carriageway of the East Bank Demerara Public Road. He said he was driving at a normal speed. “Upon approaching 110, [that] is in Prospect, I saw this police vehicle, moderate, driving moderate because it was a whole lot of traffic went behind me… and approaching Covent Garden, soon as I hit, bound Covent Garden like the traffic was so normal, this dude [Corporal Smith], like he just exit all this traffic in a rush because he was just, everybody was just going at one pace at one time and before I coulda reach like the second corner in Covent Garden, this dude [Corporal Smith] is right there, up under my truck,” he explained.
“…All I hear this engine racing at the top, like it revving out when it hit my vehicle. That loud! So, I had to glimpse back at my mirror when I hear this thing approaching so, so loud, and by time I look back in me mirror, it was already on top of me,” he added.
Reports had suggested that the accident occurred after Lallchan allegedly failed to acknowledge the police vehicle’s siren. However, both Lallchan and Ramkellawan had said that the siren was not used by the police at the time of the accident.
However, when asked whether his driver was speeding at the time of the accident and whether the siren was used, James had said the investigation will determine both factors.
At the time of the accident, James, who was seated in the back seat of the force vehicle, was being transported from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, where he touched down after returning from overseas duties.
Lallchan and Ramkellawan were on their way to the East Coast of Demerara to sell water.