A 21-year-old labourer succumbed at a city hospital on Sunday night, eight days after he was reportedly struck off his bicycle by a speeding hire car along the Reliance Public Road, in Essequibo.
Dead is Arbie Stevens, who was a resident of Reliance, Essequibo.
Stevens suffered massive head injuries, a broken arm and a broken leg in the accident, which occurred around 4.30 pm on February 23rd. He was taken to the Suddie Hospital and then later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was on a life-support machine until his demise around 9.30 pm on Sunday.
He never regained consciousness since the accident.
A police source told Stabroek News that the driver, a 31-year-old resident of Richmond Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast, was taken into custody and was later released on station bail after he was held for three days without charge. However, he was re-arrested yesterday morning in wake of Stevens’ death. He was said to be assisting the police with their investigation.
The car involved in the accident, HC 2886, was being driven north along the western side of the Reliance Public Road, allegedly at a fast rate of speed, when the driver alleged that Stevens rode into the path of the vehicle. As a result of the impact, Stevens was pitched several yards away. He was picked up and rushed to the hospital by public-spirited citizens.
Davindra Bhajan, the dead man’s father, yesterday related to Stabroek News that the family is still trying to come to grips with Stevens’ passing.
Bhajan explained that at the time of the accident, Stevens had just left home and was on his way to a ball field to meet some co-workers, after which they would have proceeded to work.
Stevens, he said, worked in the rice fields to help maintain his family, including five sisters.
“Based on wah I understand, he (Stevens) was riding out he bicycle through we street and he wheel did barely on the public road and the car come with a high speed and clip the wheel and he fall off,” Bhajan said.
He said the impact was so loud, he heard it from his home, which is some distance away from the scene. “This thing was so hard, I hear it till from home. Like he [the driver] hit he [Stevens] two times. He [Stevens] pitch couple well yards away,” the father added.
