Acting Police Public Relations Officer Senior Superintendent Whitney Bacchus, told Stabroek News yesterday that the investigation also revealed that the traffic light at the junction was not working and was flashing red at the time of the accident.
He said the police investigation found no truth in a claim made by a letter writer in this newspaper that the fire engine was heading up the wrong way on Vlissengen Road and had turned into Lamaha Street when it collided with De Abreu’s car. That letter writer who lives in the area had not witnessed the accident, but claimed to have observed the fire engine driving up the wrong way on Vlissengen Road and had initially thought it was heading to a fire in Kitty.
Witnesses at the accident, which saw the fire engine ending up in a trench and De Abreu being seriously injured, had told Stabroek News that the truck was heading north on Irving Street when the businessman’s car turned in front of the truck which collided with it.
Meanwhile, De Abreu is recovering at a hospital in Miami and not New York as was previously stated by this newspaper. A source told this newspaper yesterday that he is expected to recover fully in about two months.
De Abreu had showed little sign of improvement while he was a patient of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Hospital. His transfer to overseas facility had been sought by his relatives since the accident, but they were unable to move him because he was not in a condition to be flown.
Also injured were firemen Marlon Wilson, 42, who sustained injuries to the head, neck and face; Jamal Alleyne, 23, who suffered wounds to his right hand and ear; Hurdley Holder who was hurt to his head, left hand and eye and Kwesi Pearson. Holder was the last member of the quartet to be discharged. This newspaper was reliably informed that the man lost one of his eyes and that his hand was broken.
