“What kind of people would do this to a dying man?” a relative exclaimed yesterday as she mourned the death of Petrotrin operator Adrian Pancho, who was robbed as he lay dying after crashing his SUV into an embankment yesterday.
Eyewitnesses said Pancho, 25, of Santokie Trace, Fyzabad, survived being pinned inside his Kia Sportage for 25 minutes, but according to a female relative yesterday, thieves used that time to steal the money from his wallet and the battery from his SUV.
Police said Pancho was driving north along Lady Hailes Avenue, San Fernando, around 2.45 am when on reaching Cemetery Road, he veered onto an embankment and crashed into a sign.
Police believe Pancho, who was returning from a cousin’s wedding in Palmiste, fell asleep while driving as there were no skid marks on the road leading to the crash.
Brandon Brown, who lives nearby, said when the SUV hit the embankment, it propelled upward and into a sign. When he and other residents ran out, they noticed Pancho not wearing his seatbelt and he was pinned under the steering wheel.
“The man was not wearing his seatbelt so he end up underneath by the pedals for the gas and on top of the gear level, halfway across. It looked like he had a little girl child but there was not anyone else in the vehicle with him.
“We saw a baby seat and a key chain for a girl so it look like he had a little daughter. We are unsure who the man is and where he is from.
“The car was coming down the stretch and like the man dozed away behind the steering. He lost control of the vehicle and hit an incline right there as you can see. When he hit the incline, he end up in the air and hit a sign. When he hit the sign, the car started to spin in the air and fall back on the ground,” Brown said.
He said as soon as residents saw the accident, they called the police but emergency responders took between 30 and 45 minutes to arrive.
A relative said yesterday that both she and Pancho attended the wedding but he left around 1.30 am to return home. Minutes later she got a phone call saying that he was in an accident but she was given few details.
Although she was angered that Pancho appeared to be robbed, she did not want to speculate as to who did it as she did not know all the details of the accident. She said Pancho, who turned 25 on February 8, had planned to get married in the next two years.