Four-year-old critical after struck by scooter

-motor scooters were racing

Doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) were last evening working to save the life of a four-year-old boy who was struck down following a hit and run accident which occurred at Second Street, Agricola, East Bank Demerara.

Satish Victor’s mother, Sushma  Arjune told Stabroek News last evening that she and her three

Satish Victor
Satish Victor

children were returning home to their Lot 101, Caesar Street Agricola home after visiting a relative  at Covent Garden on the East Bank of Demerara  to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr.

She said as she walked along the side of the road around 6 pm  with a baby in her arms, her 3-year-old on the left and Satish on the right, a young man on a motor scooter who was at the time racing with another scooter, slammed into her son from behind.

The impact pitched him onto a nearby electrical pole after which he landed in a nearby drain.  The motor cyclist got up and rode a short distance away, looked around at her, and then rode away from the scene.

She said that the scooter he was riding did not carry a number plate.

The woman said that she immediately went to her son’s aid after he was hit and, “already give up pon he,” but a nearby taxi-driver drove her and the injured child to the public hospital.

With blood all over her clothes and Satish’s pants in her hand, she  related that  a number of persons converged at the scene of the accident, many expressing anger over the manner in which the accident occurred, and moreso, that the man had ridden away from the scene.

At the Georgetown Public Hospital, confusion reigned as relatives gathered, while hospital staff attended to the unconscious child. He was taken to the Intensive Care Unit, and according to his mother sustained mainly head injuries.

She recalled seeing him being thrown into the electrical post head first. The woman stated that hospital staff had intended to carry out a brain scan, but had changed their minds after observing that his condition was serious; he was hooked up to a life support machine last evening.

His aunt, Sharda, told this newspaper that she had invited her sister-in-law and her three children to spend the day with her as the family celebrated Eid–ul-Fitr.

The distraught woman, who had to be revived after  fainting several minutes earlier, said that she took a special interest in the injured child ever since he was a 2 years old, because he had been very sick for a several months. She said yesterday’s accident came as a severe shock, noting that she would speak with the boy every day on the phone.

Satish’s relatives and friends told this newspaper that last evening’s accident was in the making because the young man involved was a known character in the village.

They said most afternoons he and his friends would race along the Agricola streets, with little or no regard for other road users. “Everybody know [him] and how he does behave in Agricola,” one relative stated.

Meanwhile, relatives of the young man who had struck Satish also gathered at the GPH.

As they enquired about the child’s condition, some of them said that their relative was not the person who was riding the scooter at the time. The injured child’s relatives quickly moved away from them as the situation became tense.

Ranks at the Ruimveldt Police station were in contact with the injured child’s parents last evening as they carried out their investigations.  Police ranks were dispatched to Agricola in search of the rider who was involved in the accident.