Traffic warden Mandisa Woods was last night still being attended to at the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, but happy to be alive.
Woods, a 27-year-old mother of two, sustained a fractured leg, a fracture over one of her eyes, gaping wounds under the buttocks and leg, and several other cuts and bruises about her body when she was thrown into a glass pane after being struck by an SUV while she was directing traffic along Independence Square, Port-of-Spain.
Woods’ sister, Afua, told the T&T Guardian yesterday that the family was grateful she was alive.
“She received several stitches about the body. She is conscious and holding on. She is a fighter,” Afua said.
She noted, however, that her sister, a traffic warden for two years, had been in hospital since 7 am and it was frustrating to know that 11 hours later she was still being attended to.
But one of Woods’ colleagues, who wished not to be identified for fear of victimisation, said traffic wardens were now very concerned about compensation for Woods and several other officers who had been injured while on duty since the unit was started.
“So many times we are knocked down while on duty and we are not compensated, but this time we are behind Mandisa 100 per cent,” the officer said.
Another officer said one of her knees was injured when she was knocked down by a motorist while issuing a ticket, but was yet to receive compensation from the Traffic Wardens Division of the Ministry of Works and Transport.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Chief Traffic Warden Randolph Protain said he believed compensation should come from the insurance companies in cases where the motor vehicles involved in the accidents were insured.
Pressed on whether or not there was any compensation package from the ministry, Protain replied, “We had a few minor accidents. Our first accident was one in which a woman was driving her car into a car park and the officer was hit on her hand, but this is the first case where an officer is actually warded and I think that we are going to learn from that. We will see what happens from that and we will learn from that."
Protain, however, gave the assurance that he would engage in further discussions with senior officials from the ministry regarding compensation issues and how best these could be resolved or facilitated.
According to police reports, around 6.30 am, a woman in a red Tucson SUV was driving east along Independence Square when upon reaching the intersection with Abercromby Street there was a collision with a white panel van. This caused her vehicle to veer to the left and it struck Woods, who was thrown several feet into the air and landed on the glass panel in front of Nicholas Court.
The area was immediately cordoned off and several roads were blocked from oncoming traffic, causing a traffic jam.
However, there are conflicting reports too about the accident with one version claiming that one of the vehicles was parked and the motorist in a panic after the collision threw the vehicle in reverse and continued on. However, the car stopped several feet away from the scene and was later towed away.
Police spent several hours yesterday interviewing both motorists involved in the accident.
The T&T Guardian was informed that the woman who allegedly drove the SUV was up to late last night still in police custody. It is said she is employed at a government ministry.
Police investigators have already secured surveillance footage captured on surrounding cameras and have viewed it.
PC Marcel of the Central Police Station is continuing inquiries.