Bus driver, Kenneth Smith who was killed by a speeding car at De Willem, West Coast Demerara on Saturday was heading to a shop to buy a Lotto ticket.
Smith’s friend, forty-three-year-old Rampaul Sursen, a carpenter of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) was also injured in the accident.
The fifty-four-year-old deceased resided at Lot 53 Ocean View, West Coast Demerara.
According to a police report, at about 5:45pm a pickup, GPP 8150 driven by thirty-nine-year-old Sahadeo Singh of Hydronie, EBE, was proceeding east along the northern side of the road in a line of traffic when the driver said that he turned on his right traffic indicator to turn south into Harrykissoon Street.
Footage viewed by this newspaper showed that as Singh was turning, a car, PZZ 9052 driven by twenty-one-year-old University of Guyana student, Tyree Li-A-Ping overtook a line of cars behind the pickup. In doing so the driver of the car lost control and collided with the pickup. The police report further stated that after crashing into the pickup, Li-A-Ping also crashed into a fence along the northern side of the road before he finally collided with Smith and Sursen who were standing in the yard of the shop.
The pedestrians were picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital where they were seen by a doctor. Smith died while receiving medical attention while Sursen was referred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital suffering from a fractured left ankle and injuries about his body.
When Stabroek News contacted the relatives of Smith last night, the sister-in-law of the deceased, Kameel Lall shared that the now dead man was not working his bus at the time. She noted that he had offered a drop to Sursen who was on his way home as he was not working. He offered to drop Sursen as far as the shop where he was going to purchase his Lotto.
Lall said she was told that Smith parked his bus and the men were walking into the shop when they were hit by the car. She shared that while at the hospital, Smith talked with his wife and afterwards his son at which point Smith said that he couldn’t breathe well. Shortly after this, he succumbed.
Smith, a father of two, had been a bus driver for more than thirty years. “He was always a humble and nice person. He was well-known, since he was a bus driver,” said Lall.
The body of the deceased is currently at the Ezekiel Funeral Home awaiting an autopsy expected to be done today.
Breathalyzer tests were conducted on both drivers and both tests read zero.
