Latest update March 23rd, 2025 9:41 AM
Latest News
- ExxonMobil dodges question on whether operations can lead to cancer, other diseases
- Govt., and Opposition MPs a no-show at Exxon’s public meetings on 8th project
- Trump revokes legal status for 530,000 immigrants in the US
- Over 200 affected after fire destroys section of Critchlow Labour College
- Govt. issues order to acquire more land for Gas-to-Energy project
Man, girlfriend killed during high speed police chase
– were en route to his mother’s birthday celebration
By Shervin Belgrave
Kaieteur News – A high speed police chase on Wednesday ended in tragedy after a multi vehicle smash-up claimed the lives of a 21-year-old man and his girlfriend who were on their way to celebrate his mother’s birthday.
Killed in Wednesday’s tragic accident, Christopher Bhagwandat
Several other individuals were also injured as a result of the accident which involved a recently procured police pick-up – PAB 3143, a Toyota Allion – PNN 8852, a canter and a Toyota fielder wagon.
The collision reportedly occurred sometime around 11:00hrs at the Mahaica Bridge, located on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), Region 4.
Those killed have been identified as the driver of the Toyota Allion, Christopher Bhagwandat of Mon Repos, ECD and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Sheereda Persaud of Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice (WCD), who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
Among the injured are, three police ranks – one of them a female, all occupants of the force’s pick-up – and a family of four; a man, his wife and two children ages, 8 and 2, who were travelling in the Toyota Fielder Wagon.
According to reports reaching this publication, Bhagwandat had left his Mon Repos home earlier that morning in his Toyota Allion to pick up his girlfriend from her home in Bath Settlement. His plan, according to a relative, was to take his girlfriend to his mother’s birthday celebration in Mon Repos.
East Coast Police Commander, Khali Pareshram, said that ranks from the Region 5 district were conducting a traffic operation in Mahaicony and had stopped Bhagwandat’s car at their road block along the New Zeeland Public Road. Bhagwandat, he told reporters, had pulled over his car to the side of the road but as one of the ranks approached he suddenly drove off.
The horrific accident scene
The ranks, according to Pareshram, alerted a patrol vehicle attached to the Mahaicony Police Station and a pursuit began.
While speeding across the Mahaica Bridge, both the force’s pick-up and Bhagwandat’s car slammed into the canter that was travelling in the opposite direction towards Berbice. The impact of the collision caused the canter to flip onto the Toyota Fielder Wagon that was travelling behind, dragging it a short distance.
The driver of the force’s pick-up, identified as Corporal Carmichael, recounted that as he was pursuing Bhagwandat’s car on the Mahaica Bridge, he (Bhagwandat) pulled to the right and crashed into the force’s vehicle. Carmichael then remembered losing control of the pick-up and slammed into the rail of the bridge before both he and Bhagwandat crashed into the canter.
Eyewitnesses described the collision as something out of a movie scene. One of the police ranks said that as he and his team were leaving the compound of the Mahaica Police Station, which is located a short distance from the scene, when they heard a loud impact coming from the direction of the bridge.
Another eyewitness related that he heard “tyre burning (screeching)” on the bridge and had looked out just in time to see the “two vehicles and canter slamming into mattie (each other).”
Surveillance camera from a nearby business place also recorded the exact moment when the vehicles collided.
It started with the canter moving at a normal rate of speed with two cars travelling slowly behind. Suddenly as the canter drove onto the bridge, two speeding vehicles slammed into it. The canter flipped over onto a car that was behind. The air then became foggy with dust and smoke from the smashed vehicles. As debris scattered across the bridge, it appeared as though someone was flung out from one of the mangled cars too. An eyewitness was seen rushing to the scene and trying to assist the individual lying among the debris by fetching them to the side of the road.
Several photographs of the horrific scene were taken and cell phone recorded videos showed fire fighters cutting through mangled vehicles to free bleeding victims.
Commander Pareshram informed reporters at the scene that all of the victims, except for the canter driver who escaped unharmed, were rushed to the Mahaicony Public Hospital. Unfortunately, Bhagwandat and his girlfriend were pronounced dead on arrival. The injured family of four was treated at the Mahaicony Hospital while two of the injured police officers were referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
As it relates to what caused the now dead Bhagwandat to drive away from the cops, investigators may never be able to find out because nothing illegal was found in his car.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Teen arrested over uncle’s murder after sharing burial plan with relative
Kaieteur News- A teenager of Tabatinga, Lethem, Central Rupununi, Region Nine was arrested for murder on Friday after he... more
The Caribbean: Destined to Grin and Bear the Consequences of Its Self-Created Vulnerabilities?
By Sir Ronald Sanders For decades, many Caribbean nations have grappled with dependence on a small number of powerful countries... more
Weekend Cartoon
