Cop still on duty 5 days after pedestrian’s death

EBD fatal accident

A 61-year-old pedestrian, who was attempting to cross the McDoom Public Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD), last week was killed after being struck by a vehicle driven by a Police Constable.
Dead is Colin Crawford of Lot 111 Covent Garden, EBD.
Reports are at about 17:15h, the Police rank, who is stationed at the Brickdam Police Station’s Impact Base Unit, was driving motorcar PLL 9532 along the EBD road on the eastern driver’s lane of the western carriageway when the accident occurred.
The three-lane procedure for vehicles traversing the EBD roadway was active at the time of the incident.
According to reports, the policeman was proceeding south along the eastern side of the western carriageway in the vicinity of Stoby’s Jewellery at McDoom, when Crawford was seen standing on the western side of the eastern carriageway close to the median that separates the eastern and western carriageway on that road.
The police in a statement said that the rank told investigators that he was about to pass the pedestrian who “suddenly jump over the said median” and attempted to cross the western carriageway from east to west.
According to the police, the constable alleged that upon seeing Crawford trying to rush across the busy roadway, he applied brakes to avoid a collision with the man, but due to the short distance between the vehicle and the pedestrian, it was unavoidable.
The 61-year-old is said to have collided with the left side front fender of the constable’s motorcar.
As a result of the impact from the collision, Crawford fell onto the front windscreen of the vehicle and then bounced onto the roadway.
This publication understands that the injured man was picked up by the police constable with the assistance of public-spirited persons and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for medical attention.
He died some three hours after the accident.
At the time of the accident, a breathalyser test was conducted on the police constable and no trace of alcohol was found in his system.
According to the police, checks were made around the McDoom village for witnesses and to obtain any CCTV footage from residents in the area but these attempts proved futile.
Meanwhile, the fate of the police constable who was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident is still to be determined.
This is according to Deputy Police Commissioner and Traffic Chief, Linden Isles, who told this newspaper on Saturday that the rank has not been charged to date.
“Because he would have spent his 72 hours, as a member of the Force, under close arrest. So he was in custody for 72 hours, and after that 72 hours have elapsed, there is a procedure that has to be followed before any action can be taken. So he is on duty pending the investigation and when we are done investigating we will send the file for advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the way forward.”