Drunk minibus driver caused Coverden crash - police

Drunk minibus driver caused Coverden crash – police

May 30, 2012 News

The minibus driver who allegedly caused last Monday’s crash at Coverden, East Bank Demerara,

Suelan Daniels says she was ‘pitched through a window’

was under the influence of alcohol when the mishap occurred, police said yesterday.
A senior traffic official told Kaieteur News that a breathalyzer test on the driver of minibus, BNN 4262, revealed that his blood alcohol level was above the prescribed limit when he slammed into the back of another bus, BLL 9312, which was transporting several passengers.
The driver reportedly goes by the nickname ‘Mad Sick’, and the conductor of the bus with the injured passengers had claimed that the alleged culprit had been consuming alcohol at an East Bank Demerara liquor restaurant earlier in the day.
Both drivers are still in custody.
The traffic official said that investigators are still to interview all of the victims, some of whom are hospitalized.
Among 14 persons injured were Vijay Persaud, 25, of Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara; Manfred Parks, 77; Suelan Daniels, 16; Crystel Samaroo, 21; Cecline Mentis; the driver of BLL 9312, Ryan Rampaul, 35, all of Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke/Linden, and Rampaul’s conductor.
Parks, who sustained a broken right arm, was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
The conductor of the Kuru-Kuru-bound bus told Kaieteur News that his driver, Ryan Rampaul, was about to overtake a truck near Coverden when the other minibus driver attempted to overtake both vehicles. Instead, he ended up slamming into the back of their bus.
He said that his driver lost control of his vehicle, which toppled over and ended up in a trench.
Suelan Daniels, a 16-year-old St. Joseph High student, said that she was sitting behind the conductor when the other bus slammed into the back of the vehicle she was in. She said that she “pitched out of a window” before the vehicle ended up in the trench.
The teen, who escaped virtually unhurt, had written CXC subjects earlier in the day.

The minibus which was reportedly struck by another bus.

Vijay Persaud, one of the injured, also alleged that the other bus had ‘braced’ the Kuru-Kuru-bound bus off the road.
Both vehicles were subsequently towed to the Madewini Police Station.