An 83-year-old man died yesterday after being hit by a minibus which was reportedly speeding on the Liverpool public road.
Ben Cort of Manchester Village was said to be riding across the road when a bus, proceeding east “with full speed” collided with him.
An eyewitness told Stabroek News that though it appeared that the driver had seen the man and had attempted to slow down he was simply going too fast to avoid hitting him.
Fellow villager Lorna Alexander said Cort had just spoken to her and was nice as always, and had ridden off when she heard the impact of an accident.
The woman said she thought that the bus had hit a goat but after a number of persons rushed to scene she too walked over and saw Cort lying on the road with “thick, thick clot blood” oozing from his mouth. Alexander said Cort used the road every day and was a very careful man.
Meanwhile, passengers told this newspaper that they had repeatedly asked the driver to slow down “but he nah listen to you. Then he deh a play music hard, hard. If he bin a pay attention pon da road he coulda save dah man.”
A police press release yesterday said that the accident occurred around 8.50 am. It said that investigations revealed that the driver of the bus BJJ 4354 was proceeding along the roadway when it is alleged that Cort attempted to ride across the road into an access street and was knocked down. The police said that the driver of the bus has been taken into custody.