Bagotstown residents must surely be wondering whether their community is a magnet for accident-prone drivers, after yet another speeding car veered off the East Bank Demerara yesterday and ploughed into a building in the area.
Deborah Kaladeen, the property’s owner, said her household was awakened at around 05.00 hrs by a crashing sound. On looking outside, Kaladeen saw that a car, PJJ 1679, had slammed into the concrete building she is constructing in front of the wooden house in which she lives.
Most of the two-storey structure was demolished and the car was partly buried under a large slab of concrete. However, the driver escaped unhurt.
The Toyota Corolla in Mrs. Kaladeen’s yard
“My sons were trying to get him out because we believed that he was hurt. Eventually, he came out and all he was saying was ‘another one…another one,” Mrs. Kaladeen recalled.
Tow trucks sent to the scene were unable to haul the car out up to late yesterday afternoon.
Kaieteur News understands that the driver, who is from Westminster, West Bank Demerara, told police that he was driving south at a fast rate, and veered off the roadway to avoid hitting a truck. A source said that a breathalyzer test showed that the driver’s alcohol level was beyond the legal limit.
He has been detained at the Providence Police Station.
Mrs. Kaladeen believes that Bagotstown is situated in an area that makes residents particularly vulnerable to speeding and drunk drivers.
In August, 2011, a speeding driver ended up in the top flat of a house at Lot 35 Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara, located about two houses away from Mrs. Kaladeen’s Lot 37, Public Road, Bagotstown home.
Faizal Razack, the home owner, was in the lower flat of the house reading his Koran when he felt ‘an earthquake like shake’ and felt things falling on him.
Flashback: The car that ended up in Mr. Razack’s upper flat in 2011
He said he was left in shock when he saw the car ‘parked’ in his living room and the driver and three passengers screaming for help.
The court ordered the driver, Robin Persaud to pay $800,000 in compensation to the Razack family.