Five persons were killed in a collision involving a police vehicle along the Friendship, East Bank Demerara (EBD) public road early yesterday morning and President David Granger has ordered a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the cause while pledging that steps will be taken to ensure the safe use of the roads by members of the security forces.
Those who died are: Ronnel Barker, 24, a Presidential Guard who was driving the police vehicle; Leon Tucker, 34, of 2544 Recht-Door-Zee, West Bank Demerara, a father of two and a member of the Guyana Defence Force, who was driving the other vehicle; Tucker’s aunt, Lovern Stoby, 66, of Third Street, Friendship, who was a traffic officer at the John Fernandes Wharf; and Denise King Josiah, 57, a cleaner, and Hubert Josiah, 58, a porter, both of 105, Second Street Friendship and employees of the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
The injured survivors have been identified as Travis Fullington, and Tricia London of 419, Third Street, Friendship.
Fullington, who is also a Presidential Guard, has been admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, while London is a patient at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre under observation.
A source told Stabroek News that Fullington suffered abdominal trauma, which doctors suspect to be a ruptured spleen.
While Barker and Fullington were in the police car, Tucker was driving the Josiahs, Stoby and London. He was on his way home from work when he noticed his aunt and the others on the roadway awaiting transportation and offered them a lift.
The accident occurred around 5.36 yesterday morning.
Police last evening said that Constable 22621 Barker, of the Presidential Guard, was on duty driving force vehicle PTT 9313 along the roadway when his vehicle collided with motor vehicle PPP 515, which was proceeding in the opposite direction.
A surveillance video of the accident that was posted on Facebook showed that the police vehicle was moving at a fast rate. The sirens were blaring and lights were flashing at the time. Tucker was proceeding along the opposite lane. The footage showed that just before the collision, upon approaching the police vehicle, Tucker applied brakes and slowed down in his lane. However, the two vehicles collided and both vehicles spun around before coming to a halt some distance away from the point of impact. The police car landed in a nearby trench.
After hearing the collision, many residents rushed to the scene. One who assisted in freeing the victims from the vehicle Tucker was driving said that they had to use a saw to cut the vehicle to get the victims out of the car. “The driver died on the spot and his foot was pinned down inside the vehicle. We had to wait for the fire service to come and lift up parts of the car before he could have gotten freed,” the man said.
He noted that both Barker and Tucker died at the scene of the accident.
Some residents opted not to go to the scene. A resident told this newspaper that after she saw the scene of the accident from her home, she refused to go on the road. “It was not a nice sight. The man was hanging out of the car and that car was smashed in and the police was in the trench. It was craziness and not a nice sight”, she explained.
Inquiry
Many at the scene suspected that the police vehicle was on its way to join the presidential convoy to escort President David Granger from his residence at Pearl Village. Villagers said it is a norm for police vehicles to traverse along the thoroughfare early in the morning to escort the president.
However, a statement from the Ministry of Presidency hours after the accident refuted claims that the police vehicle “was part of President David Granger’s convoy.”
The statement further said that “the police vehicle, at the time of the accident, was headed south along the EBD corridor in the direction of Timehri, while, the passenger car was headed north in the direction of Georgetown.” It noted that President Granger was at another East Bank location at the time of the accident.
When this newspaper sought clarity on where the police vehicle was heading, Commander of Region 4 (B) Kurleigh Simon said the police vehicle was on official duty and that he could not relate any other information on the destination of the car.
The Police Force, in its statement last night, said that “contrary to reports in sections of the media, the police vehicle involved in the accident was not escorting His Excellency, the President at the time of the accident.”
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of the Presidency, Granger said the “shocking event will be thoroughly investigated,” and noted that within two hours after the accident, he had directed the acting Commissioner of Police Nigel Hoppie to launch an inquiry headed by a person no lower in rank than Deputy Commissioner, “to determine how such an accident could have occurred and also to make recommendations to prevent a recurrence.”
“We will ensure that, if there was any error, any mistake, any wrongdoing… that there will be no further event like this in the history of the Police Force or the Guyana Defence Force,” he was quoted as saying.
President Granger, the statement added, assured that whatever the cause of the accident, the Government of Guyana, the administration of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force, the Cabinet and the National Security Committee will take every step to ensure that the roads are used safely by all members of the security forces.
He further said steps will also be taken to ensure that regulations, Standard Operating Procedures, inspections and the careful selection and training of drivers are measures which are put in place so as to prevent a recurrence. “The Government and the security forces will ensure that the findings and recommendations of this Commission of Inquiry are fully and rigorously implemented,” he added.
Granger also expressed condolences to the relatives of the deceased.
Members of the public have frequently complained about the reckless and aggressive driving on the roadways by members of the Joint Services.
Families in shock
At the home of the Josiahs, family members were in a disbelief. They told Stabroek News that the couple had left for work a few minutes before the accident. “All we hear somebody coming through the street, calling out we name and saying ‘Come quick, y’all mother get in an accident.’ We jump out of bed and run to the scene,” Denise’s daughter, Jawella Durant, said.
The couple recently got married, Stabroek News was told. From a previous union, Denise parented six children, while Hubert fathered a few, relatives said.
Durant said when they arrived at the scene, her mother was lying on the road and they observed that she was still breathing. They rushed her to the hospital but she succumbed on the way and was pronounced dead on arrival.
“When we reach deh, she deh still breathing and that is when I holler, ‘She still breathing!’ And the police help we to take her to the hospital,” the daughter related.
The woman’s eldest daughter, Samantha, said the passing of her mother is a big shock to her family. “It is a big shock because she wasn’t sick or anything, she was a strong woman. She is a fighter and we backbone. She left home strong,” the daughter lamented.
Stoby’s sister and Tucker’s aunt, Bonita (only name given), yesterday told this publication that their deaths had left the family devastated.
The woman recalled that she was at her home not far from the scene of the accident when she heard the loud impact and later learnt that her sister had been involved in the accident.
The woman stated that while she was at the scene, she identified her sister but only learnt that her nephew was also a part of the accident while she was at the hospital.
Bonita said her nephew was on his way home from work.
“I saw my nephew hanging out of the car but I didn’t know that was him. I identify my sister because she was on the road and went with her to the hospital. But while I was at the hospital, Leon brother get a call and the person tell him his brother in the accident too and he kept saying no. It was [not] until the body come to the hospital [that] we know he was in the accident,” she added.
At the home of Barker’s family, there was a sombre atmosphere as family members tried to keep the news of his death from his ailing grandmother.
His uncle, Esan Caesar, told this newspaper that Barker’s mother called him from the BVI and asked him to enquire about the seriousness of the accident as she had learnt of it via Facebook.
Caesar explained that he contacted his nephew’s fianceé and she informed him that she was on the way to the hospital. However, he said the family learnt that Barker died at the scene and while they did not want to believe it, it was confirmed on their arrival at the hospital.
The uncle explained that his nephew joined the force in 2015 and after graduating he was placed in the Presidential Guard, where he has been working since.
Family members stated that they were not able to tell the grandmother of Barker’s passing because she shared a very close relationship with him and did not take the news of him being in an accident well.
