Deodat Persaud Gangapersaud, a 72-year-old Guyanese migrant, was killed on Thursday when a helicopter crashed onto the Tampa, Florida, US highway, as he was making his way home from a grocery store.
According to a report on The Ledger newspaper website, Gangapersaud, who was originally from Whim, Corentyne, died when the pick-up he was in was struck by one of the helicopter’s rotor blades. Gangapersaud was in a passenger seat of the vehicle.
Steve Gaskins, public information officer for the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), said the engine failed on a private chopper with two occupants and it fell onto 50th Street at Palm River Road about 2.20 p.m. The Chevrolet Silverado pickup was traveling north on 50th Street approaching Palm River Road when one of the blades struck the truck, killing Gangapersaud. His son, Ryan Anthony Persaud, who was also in the vehicle escaped with minor injuries.
The pilot and the co-pilot of the helicopter didn’t suffer any injuries.
Meanwhile, a Tampa Bay Times report said Gangapersaud was a grandfather of eight, who planned to be around for many more years. “His parents lived well into their 90s and that was his goal,” his daughter, Sharita Persaud, the youngest of five children, was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “The doctor told him he had the heart of a teenager.”
However, he was killed instantly in the accident on Thursday, leaving his family struggling to come to grips with the sudden loss of its patriarch.
According to the Times report, authorities say the two people in the 2019 Robinson R44 II helicopter were Bryan Thomas Messick, 38, of Bradenton, who was piloting it when it experienced what authorities called catastrophic engine failure, and Joshua James Wells, 21, of Pinellas Park, who was a passenger.
The report said surveillance video captured by a nearby business shows the sleek blue four-seater dropping parallel to the southbound lanes of 50th Street just above a southbound semitrailer truck, then landing hard on the pavement.
“As the copter slid to a stop, its main rotor blade struck a utility pole, snapping it like a toothpick. A piece of the blade broke off and landed in the cab of the Chevy pickup, investigators said,” the report added.
“He really did about the best job you could do in this situation,” Dan Boggs, an air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), told reporters at the scene.
The Times contacted Messick by phone on Friday and he said he wasn’t ready to talk about the crash. He is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a commercial helicopter pilot and helicopter flight instructor, records show.
Though authorities identified Wells as the co-pilot, records show he is certified only as an airframe and power plant mechanic.
Meanwhile, Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister said Messick was “highly trained” and the helicopter had just been serviced and was deemed to be functioning properly.
But the Times said the investigation may focus, in part on an incident involving the same helicopter five days earlier. According to the FAA, a pilot of the helicopter reported “possible mechanical problems” during a flight Sunday. He was able to land safely at Geraci Airpark in Lutz. Only the pilot was aboard at the time. The FAA did not release a name. The agency is investigating that incident.
Robinson has sent its own investigator to Florida to work with the NTSB and the FAA, said Loretta Conley, a company spokeswoman. She said the company could not comment on a pending investigation. “We’re very sorry to hear about this loss of life,” Conley said. “We feel the people’s pain.”
According to the Tampa Bay Times report, Gangapersaud and his wife Grace were born in Guyana, married here in 1980 and went to the United States with little and built a life there.
Gangapersaud worked as a security guard at the World Bank in Washington, D.C, while his wife worked as a bank teller. They moved to Florida in 2005 after Gangapersaud retired.
The report said drawn to the open spaces of east Hillsborough, they built a house on an acre and a half of land south of Plant City. “There was plenty of room for Deodat Gangapersaud to raise goats and plant a garden, where he nourished mango, papaya, peppers and okra,” it noted.
Gangapersaud was described as the type of person who pulled strangers onto the dance floor, his daughter said. He made people laugh. “He was just a happy person, the life of the party,” Sharita said. “He was a man who could never stay still.”
The third of five siblings, Ryan Persaud added that his father taught him how to do trades like electrical work and plumbing, and how to be a role model for his own son, who is now nine. “He took care of his family and always had great advice,” Ryan Persaud said. “He still had a lot to teach us.”
