Startled by the sound of another vehicle’s horn, 26-year-old Christopher Lewis accelerated after stopping at the Trincity traffic lights and slammed into a vehicle in front of him, resulting in his death and the injury of another driver.
The accident, according to police, took place around 7 am on Sunday. Less than one hour later, the aspiring events manager was pronounced dead at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.
Recalling the moment she was told of her son’s death, Marceline Shawah said officers came to her home at Fairley Street, Tunapuna, and told her from reports taken from eyewitnesses, it appeared Lewis had stopped at the lights and then sped off after it turned green, crashing into the back of another car.
Speaking with the media at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, Shawah said officers suggested that her child might have fallen asleep at the wheel and was startled by the honking of a horn. None of the officers who spoke with her, she said, could say for certain what happened.
According to the official police report, the accident occurred at 7.05 am on Sunday along the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, Trincity. Lewis was heading east along the highway when he stopped at the traffic lights near the Trincity intersection. Sometime after he slammed into the back of another vehicle driven by Denzil Ramdath.
Recalling her son’s life, Shawah said he was a loving son. She said anyone who came in contact with him loved him as he had something in him to which people were drawn.
“He had a style about him, he understood human nature and didn’t like disrespect, being the receiving end or giving. He has a lot of friends and everyone who I spoke to is relaying to me the same story, that he was very approachable and had that ability to love regardless of who you are,” she said.
Shawah said her son was on his way home after working since the night before at a nightclub in Port-of-Spain.
Lewis’ death took the road fatality figures to 72 for the year.