A police officer transporting a group of friends home early yesterday morning after a ‘lime’ (hang out) at Enmore, East Coast Demerara lost control of his vehicle and toppled over resulting in injuries to four persons.
The uniformed rank reportedly had a few drinks but he agreed to give the group of 12 a lift home after they approached him. Some in the group were hesitant, while others were eager to get home, according to one of the accident victims.
Four persons were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital around 4 am yesterday nursing injuries — Malika Assana of Friendship, Shondell Cummings of Beterverwagting, Denise Joseph also of Beterverwagting and Zaun Archer of Melanie, East Coast Demerara. The women were treated and sent away except for Assana who sustained serious injuries and was later admitted.
At Assana’s bedside at the hospital yesterday, Archer told Stabroek News that she was hesitant to accept the ride but decided after Assana jumped into the vehicle.
She described the police vehicle as an open back pick-up truck with a shed. Archer explained that Assana is her cousin and since she was already in the vehicle, she (Archer) felt compelled to get in.
Assana who sustained injuries about her body and her face struggled to speak yesterday but was only able to say that she was in a lot of pain.
According to Archer, the accident occurred at around 3 am when the officer was about to make a turn near the Paradise Primary School. She said he handled the turn badly and the vehicle toppled over.
“When the vehicle turned over, Malika, me and the other girls were pinned under it because we were on the side where it fell. I manage to crawl out but when I look over at Malika she wasn’t moving,” Archer recounted.
She said several persons in the vehicle escaped without a scratch including the police officer and recalled that after the accident the rank was just focused on starting his vehicle. Archer said she had no idea if he wanted to transport them to the hospital or continue on with his journey.
After the accident, Assana was lying on the road and though they attempted to get transportation to bring her to the city no one would stop. Archer said a man driving a minibus eventually stopped and assisted them.
Prior to the accident, Archer said they were all at the bar liming and having a good time. She said the officer was there and he would have had a few drinks. Since she was not the one who approached him for the lift she could not say whether he was in a position to drive, but said that from all appearances he seemed so.
