ONE man is now dead following the horrific three-vehicle ‘smash up’ at Schoonard Public Road, West Bank Demerara shortly after 21:00 hrs on Wednesday night.Dead is Mahendra Sugrim, 23, of 82 Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara, the driver of the blue Toyota Avensis, PRR 5229, that was slammed into a nearby trench by an out of control Tacoma motor vehicle, said to have been racing with a similar vehicle.

The badly injured Sugrim had to be cut free from his mangled car and rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital in an unconscious state. He was admitted with multiple injuries, including broken hands, broken legs and ribs, and perforated lungs, as well as injuries to his head. He succumbed while receiving emergency medical treatment.
The dead man’s grieving mother yesterday told the Chronicle that shortly after 19:00 hrs on Wednesday evening her son, who works in his father’s auto-body workshop, left the home to visit a friend, Amar, at La Grange, and who also does bodywork repairs.
The woman said shortly after 20:00 hrs she received a call from another friend asking if ‘Sandeep’ (Mahendra) was at home and she replied no. At that point, the caller asked her to come out to the Schoonard road because Sandeep’s car ‘write-off’ and in a trench and he was not seeing Sandeep.
The mother recalled that she rushed out to the bridge. “When I reach there it was a scene.” She said she gathered that two Tacoma motor vehicles whose drivers were ‘thoroughly drunk’ and (allegedly) racing, were coming from the direction of La Grange, heading in the Vreed-en-Hoop direction. Also travelling in that direction was a Toyota Carina motorcar, in which a police rank, her husband and their young child were travelling.
She said the driver of one of the Tacomas, in his drunken state, hit the policewoman’s Carina and went on to hit the other Tacoma, then slammed Mahendra’s car over the road, causing him to end up in a nearby trench. At that time, Mahendra was travelling in the direction of La Grange to visit his friend Amar.
At the accident scene, the distraught mother was advised by a policeman to go down to the West Demerara Hospital but when she got there, her son was already under treatment and was unconscious and taking oxygen, and so they were never able to communicate.
She tried to muster courage, just praying that he would make it, but a while later the doctor informed her that her son had passed away and she became hysterical.
Mrs. Sugrim recalled there was a young woman along with the driver in one of the Tacomas and she appeared to have been hurt and was also taken to hospital. The policewoman’s son was also injured when an object entered his eye and appeared to have stuck fast. But bearing the brunt of the injuries was Mahendra, the Sugrim’s only son, and the only one who was killed.
But broken in spirit as she has ever been since learning of her son’s accident, Mrs. Sugrim recalled that the most callous reaction was from a police rank moments after the accident. “My son’s car is an Avensis, and within minutes of losing my son and his car , would you believe that a policeman was there interrogating me in all my grief. He was asking me things like ‘where did I get the money to buy an Avensis’.
Mrs Sugrim is Marketing Manager at CARICOM General Insurance Company on Regent Street where she has worked for the last 13 years. She is married to Jagdesh Sugrim, who owns Jagdesh Autobody Workshop on the premises where they live.
Recalling what a wonderful child her son was, Mrs Sugrim described him as quiet and hardworking as he worked dedicatedly with his father to establish and maintain a standard of efficiency, trust and reliability for their workshop. When not in the workshop he would be working a small bus they have on the road.
“But all in all, he was a wonderful child to us and brother to his sister, Arti,” she said, fighting to hold back tears.
Mahendra is also survived by his younger sister Arti and other relatives and friends. A post-mortem examination is to be performed on him today and he is expected to be cremated by Sunday.