Corporal Lawrence Carmichael was today charged in relation to the the accident which claimed the lives of Christopher Bhagwandat and his girlfriend, Sheereda Persaud on the Mahaica Bridge last month and asked to post $1.5 million bail for his release.
Carmichael, 27, of Seafield Village,West Coast Berbice (WCB) appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Co urt.
He was charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving. The matter was adjourned to March 10th.
On Monday, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) advised the police to charge Carmichael. “Based on the statements contained in the police file, legal advice has been given for the police to institute the indictable charge for the offence of causing death by dangerous driving,” the DPP Chambers said in a press statement said.
The DPP also ordered that a preliminary inquiry (PI) be conducted since the charge is indictable.
Further, the statement said that the DPP has also instructed the police to conduct further investigations into the matter. The file is to be returned to the DPP’s Chambers by March 7th for further legal advice.
Bhagwandat, 21, and Persaud, 16, lost their lives on February 2 after the car which they were in was involved in a four-vehicle pile-up during a high-speed chase by the police.
Carmichael was represented by attorney-at-law, Dexter Todd who argued that the matter should not have found its way into the criminal court.
Instead, he said there should have been a Commission of Inquiry. “This matter should have found its way at a Commission of Inquiry because what needs to change is policy,” Todd said.
“A policeman pursuing a suspect is permissable under the law….What needs to be an intrepretation as to how that law should be applied is when a policeman must terminate a pursuit. That is something that has to be addressed and that has to be addressed by a policy level. That cannot be addressed through a criminal court,” he argued.
Todd added that Carmichael was not operating on a “frolic” of his own at the time of the accident. “So a policeman doing a lawful duty because when you followed the dynamics of what had happened the policeman was not operating on a frolic of his own. The policeman was following certain information received by other stations,” he noted.
