Five weeks after being hit down, accident victim Samuel Gonsalves believes the police are not taking the case seriously since the driver is yet to be charged.
“I need justice. Everyone seems to be brushing off the accident,” Gonsalves, 19, of Lot 670 Fort Ordnance, told Stabroek News, while noting that he has not been able to work since.
The accident occurred on September 2, when Gonsalves was knocked off of his bicycle by a car after its driver lost control.
“I was coming in on the left on Fort Ordnance Street on the left hand side of the road and when I near reach the corner I see a car coming from the other road zigzag,” he said.
Gonsalves added that after he saw the car moving in an unusual manner he assumed the driver was drunk and he pulled into the corner and proceeded cautiously. “As soon as I went in the corner, the car come speeding and swerve on the right hand side and I try to swerve away too but it lash me on the side of the bike and I fell off and the car end up off the road,” he said.
Gonsalves said the occupants of the vehicle rushed out and picked him up, after which several civilians who were around the area rushed to the scene. “They just start cuss out the people and ask them why they so fast and that everything was alright,” he added. He said that he recognised the driver of the vehicle to be an 18-year-old girl who lives in the neighbourhood.
He said that the driver and the other occupant of the vehicle then subsequently took him into the car and drove him to the hospital.
He said he was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where he was admitted for two days. “I spent two days in the hospital and they tell me it was something minor but I couldn’t move my hand and foot properly so I decided to go to Woodlands Hospital.
When I go to Woodlands Hospital, they told me I had ligament damage in knee and elbow and I had to pay about $80,000,” he said.
According to Gonsalves, after he was discharged from the New Amsterdam Hospital, a police officer visited him and took a statement.
He said that the mother of the driver who hit him spoke with him and agreed to take care of all of the hospital charges.
However, after three weeks passed and the woman started avoiding him, he contacted the police to find out whether the driver was going to be charged. He said they constantly pushed him around and even claimed that they could not find the statement that he had given to the police. “The officer come back the day after he said he couldn’t find the statements and check out the bike and never return. We didn’t hear anything back from them since and every time we try to ask they always push we around,” he said.
Gonsalves added that the vehicle that hit him has since been fixed and repainted. “When they knock me down the night, the mirror and side was dented and when my mother see the vehicle in the morning it was fixed and look new and when we asking questions nobody ain’t answering us. They knock me down and nothing is happening,” Gonsalves said.
