A mother and her son are now hospitalised after they were struck by a speeding motor car while they were walking along Palmyra Public Road in Berbice.
The injured are Latchmi Armogan, 42, a cleaner attached to the Rose Hall Sugar Estate, and her 16-year-old son, Joshua Ramlakan, both of Palmyra.
Armogan remains a patient in the Intensive Care Unit of the New Amsterdam Hospital while her son was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital for further medical attention.
Reports are that the accident occurred as the woman and her son were heading home. The mother and son duo were struck and thrown into a nearby canal by the force of the impact, but were subsequently rescued and taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where they were treated.
According to Ganish Ramlakan, his mother and brother were struck by a speeding car that was allegedly racing with another to reach a nearby service station.
He noted that after he realised that his mother and brother were nowhere to be seen, another brother, Suraj, went into the water where he found his mother. His brother was moments later found with his head stuck in the mud.
“We find we mother de lying flat at the bottom of de canal… after he pull she up, we make sure she was alive and then I start to ask about meh brother… is about three minutes we search fo he. He did stick up with he face in the mud,” he said.
However, Suraj said one of the two drivers who were allegedly racing returned to the scene shortly after his mother was taken to the hospital.
“Me hear them talk that dem ah race fo ketch the gas station…one come to the scene, but after he come and he ain’t see nobody, he go way back. He went back and then is when somebody tell he that they knock two persons and he come back and park he car over the road and asking me buddy wha going on.”
Meanwhile, acting on information, Police were able to arrest one of the drivers. Officer in charge of Traffic for ‘B’ Division (Berbice), Deputy Superintendent Boodnarine Persaud has indicated that, at the time of arrest, a breathalyser test was administered to the arrested driver and it proved that he was above the legal limit of alcohol consumption.
He is expected to appear at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court as soon as today when he would be read several charges, including failing to render assistance, and driving under the influence of alcohol.
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