Keith Redmond of Lot 149 Centre Road, Bagotville, West Bank Demerara is now dead after being slammed off his bicycle by an allegedly drunken driver as he was heading home at about 05:15hrs.
The mangled bicycle
Police preliminary investigations have revealed that Redmond, a 60-year-old Security Guard attached to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH), had just finished his eight-hour shift, and was proceeding south on the Pouderoyen Public Road on his way home when motorcar PMM1895, being driven by a 37-year-old resident of La Parfaite Harmonie, and proceeding in the same direction, became uncontrollable and slammed into him.
Eyewitnesses say the impact of this collision sent Redmond and his bicycle flying for more than two hundred feet from the site of the accident.
Redmond was rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His body is at that hospital’s mortuary awaiting a post-mortem.
The car
Information reaching Guyana Times suggests the blood alcohol level of the driver was found to be exceedingly above the legal limit. This driver was allegedly out drinking with his friends, and was heading home when he lost control of his vehicle while navigating a turn.
After hitting Redmond, the car skidded off the road, uprooting a series of flower plants before coming to a halt in a nearby yard, completely wrecking a portion of a fence.
“Around ten past five this morning I hear a big bang and then a car alarm start going off; so me and my wife rush out, and we see this man in a red car battling to get out. The man head was bleeding and so, and we didn’t know he knock somebody down, but then we see the bicycle and then we see the man in the drain there by NIS (National Insurance Scheme), and he was already dead,” eyewitness Mark (only name given) said.
Mark further related that they then summoned the ambulance and attempted to free the driver of the car because he was briefly pinned. The ambulance and ranks from the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station arrived mere minutes after being summoned, and quickly rushed Redmond to the WDRH, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The driver was also taken to the hospital, and it is reported that he suffered a broken shoulder and a series of minor injuries.
Witnesses and relatives of the dead man said the driver was so inebriated that he had to be physically restrained so he could be treated.
“He was still drunk when we went to the hospital, and them nurse had problem to get he to stay on the bed,” the dead man’s wife, Sellis, related.
She said her husband had left for work at about 20:30hrs on Saturday, and she received a call at sometime around 05:40hrs, informing her that her husband was involved in an accident and she should proceed to the WDRH.
“When we went to the hospital, them show me he and I identified him, and then the Police take a statement and them take he to the parlour. Tomorrow is the post mortem, and we gon know what exactly cause he to dead,” the grieving woman related.
Stellis said her husband had been working at the WDRH for over five years, and had been attached to the Sentinel Security Services for a few months, since the contract with the previous firm had expired.
The driver of the car is still in Police custody, assisting with investigations.
