(Trinidad Express) Appeal Court Judge, Justice Wendell Kangaloo was yesterday flown to Baltimore, Maryland in the United States where his care is expected to continue at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Memorial Hospital.
A special Lear Jet air ambulance took Justice Kangaloo to the United States yesterday morning, Court Protocol and Information Manager, Jones P Madeira said.
The State-funded air ambulance left Piarco International Airport at 5.52 a.m. with a five-man crew, including three doctors aboard.
The jet had arrived in Trinidad about three hours earlier and its personnel went immediately to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mount Hope to liaise with local doctors and to organise the airlift.
Justice Kangaloo was later seen off at Piarco by his sister, former minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, Christine Kangaloo, and her husband, Kerwyn Garcia. No family member accompanied him on this flight.
Justice Kangaloo has been in a coma since the accident, and remains in critical condition, although doctors have been noting some improvement up to the time of his departure this morning.
Justice Kangaloo, 56, was seriously injured on Sunday morning around 6 a.m. when the vehicle he was in (a Toyota Prado) collided with a Honda Civic.
The accident occurred in the vicinity of Savannah Drive, between the Trincity and Orange Grove intersections on the eastbound lane when the Civic crossed the median and collided with the SUV head on.
Justice Kangaloo was in the rear sear of the SUV, accompanied by two members of his security detail, Cpl Terrence Fortune and PC Marvin Caesar, both assigned to the Special Branch. They were heading to Santa Rosa Park, Arima, where the judge was going to see his horses exercise.
In the Civic, however, three men and a 16-year-old girl were killed instantly.
The victims were: the driver of the car, Ryan Ramtahal, 25, of Industry Lane, Belmont; Jeremy Soyer, 24, of St James; Jovaughn Spencer, 22, of Braithwaite Street, Belmont; and Megan Richards of Bagatelle Road, Diego Martin.
Ramtahal was laid to rest yesterday.
The funerals for Soyer and Spencer took place in separate ceremonies on Thursday afternoon, while Richards was buried on Wednesday.
Justice Kangaloo was operated on hours after being admitted to hospital on Sunday. By Monday his relatives began looking at their options for his continued treatment. By Tuesday they decided that the Johns Hopkins was their best option.
On Thursday, Justice Kangaloo began breathing on his own and it was then decided he was strong enough to be moved.
According to Madeira, “We will continue to monitor his treatment when he goes abroad.”
