A police constable is under close arrest after he struck and killed a man at Greenwich Park, East Bank Essequibo around 11 pm on Saturday while on duty with the force’s vehicle.
Police said in a release that David ‘Davo’ Dhanraj, 40, a labourer attempted to cross the road when the accident occurred. He was rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police had said at first that the man, also known as ‘Shuck’ was unidentified but residents said the police never gave them a chance to come and say who he was.
Reports are that at the time of the accident the team of patrol officers attached to the Leonora Police Station was responding to a report of the shooting of a taxi driver at Boerasirie.
Eyewitnesses said they saw when the vehicle struck the man and pitched him a short distance away and then rolled over him again.
Before residents could have run out to investigate the police placed the man in the back of the vehicle and drove off. When they got to the scene all they saw was the blood. Other residents said they heard the loud impact and ran out.
The residents told this newspaper that the man who was originally from Leguan moved to the area after he became involved with a woman. When that relationship ended he would “eat and sleep” at different homes.
A resident said she last saw him around 7 pm on Saturday when he visited her home. Her son gave him a cigarette and he left.
She said he never interfered with anyone and that the only bad habit he had was that he consumed a lot of alcohol. But up to when she saw him he was not under the influence of alcohol.
His brother, Alan, 44, said he was “confused because I never expected something like this to happen”. He last saw his brother at Parika two weeks ago.
“Me asked he what he doing there and he said he went with a friend and me give he a thousand dollar,” Alan said.
He said he heard from residents that his brother did not consume alcohol for two days. According to him, “Somebody said dem offer he a drink [of alcohol] and he refused and say he just want a sweet drink.”
