A Linden woman is now a patient in critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after she was hit by a speeding car which then fled the scene of the accident on Wednesday night.
Joan Earl, 52, of Wismar, Linden, was said to have been in a critical state when she was rushed to the GPH. According to nurses at the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC), at the time of her transfer Earl was non-responsive, having suffered severe head injuries. She also sustained injuries to the hands and feet. Another woman, Roxanne Halley, 24, who is three months pregnant, was hospitalized at the LHC after she fainted upon witnessing the accident.
According to an eyewitness, shortly after 8:00 pm when he walked out of a shop at One Mile Wismar, he noticed two women a short distance ahead of him. “They were both going in the opposite direction when dis silver greyish car came down the road in one speed and hit Joan and pitch she in deh gutta and run deh big belly lady off the road,” recalled the man, who asked not to be named. According to him, the car had just overtaken another before it moved into the women’s path. He rushed to their aid and assisted in getting Earl to the hospital.
Halley told Stabroek News that she was approaching Earl and another woman from the opposite direction and fainted after witnessing the accident. Recounting her ordeal from her bed at the LHC, the woman said she saw the car overtake another, hitting Earl in the process. “I fainted when I see what happened,” she said. “All I could remember after then is when I woke up I hear someone hollering ‘weh Joan deh.’” In her state, she said that she limped to the unnamed woman who was with Earl and they both searched the dark stretch and found her lying in the nearby drain. “When I see Joan condition I became scared. And although I was in a lot of pain I limped home and told my sister-in-law what happen and she bring me to the hospital,” added Halley.
Efforts to locate the third woman were unsuccessful. However, according to one eyewitness the woman had managed to jump across the drain to safety though falling in the process. She did not sustain any noticeable injuries. (Cathy Richards)
