KEVON FELMINE
A police motorcyclist was seriously injured yesterday when he collided with a car along the South Trunk Road, La Romaine.
Reports stated that around 5 pm, PC Jones of the Highway Patrol Unit, was heading towards San Fernando when his motorcycle collided with brown Mazda 323 driven by construction labourer Edison Rahim of San Francique.
Eyewitnesses said Rahim was at the intersection of Potato Street and was attempting to cross the road when the bike crashed into the left front of his car. Jones flung off his bike and landed metres away. He suffered several injuries and was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital by an ambulance.
Rahim’s son, Dexter, said officers who responded to the crash told his father that he was wrong in the accident. He said police and ambulance attended to the injured officer but left his father and his workmate, Mark Ferreira, nursing injuries on the roadside.
Dexter said his father was working on a house in La Romaine and was going to Bhagwansingh’s Hardware to purchase supplies. On reaching Potato Street intersection, a van stopped to allow Rahim to cross the road, however, the officer had his siren on so Rahim stopped halfway, eyewitnesses said. Instead of swerving away, the motorcyclist collided with the car.
"When the police officers came, the first thing they said was that my father was wrong. Because of that, my father did not want to even tell them that he wanted help. Mark Ferreira’s head was busted and his foot swollen. When the ambulance came, they just assisted the officer and left my father and the other guy right there. I had to ask the police if they would assist my father. They told me that we were supposed to ask for help. He was here for an hour and more in real pain,” Dexter said.
An eyewitness said it was only when an off-duty female officer stopped and asked questions that Rahim and Ferreira were assisted and the accident scene was marked off.