– fireman in custody

A SIXTY-YEAR-old man, who was pedalling his bicycle home, was killed Friday evening after a

car, driven by a fireman, crashed into him at Bagotville, West Bank Demerara.
Dead is Clement Skeete, 60, called “Rastaman” or “Trooper” of Lot 111 Bagotville. Police said the accident occurred at 19:30hrs Friday night on the Bagotville Public Road.
Enquiries disclosed that the cyclist was riding across the road from west to east and ended up into the path of a motor car, PGG 1235, which was proceeding south along the eastern driveway. As a result of the impact, the cyclist fell onto the roadway.
He was rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was admitted but later succumbed while receiving treatment.
The driver, who identified himself as a fireman, is in police custody. He was given a breathalyzer test but no trace of blood alcohol was recorded, the police stated.
According to the dead man’s wife, Shelon Cameron, her husband was a father of five and a ship-builder who worked hard to provide for his family.
She said that when she got news of the accident, she rushed down to the West Demerara hospital.
She said it was there that the police informed her that her husband was being transferred to the Georgetown hospital, but that took a while.
She explained that after waiting two and a half hours, there was no doctor present to look at the patients.
“I start keeping noise and behaving bad,” the woman related. It was then that her husband was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
According to an eyewitness, he was at his stall selling when Mr. Skeete was returning from the shop across the road while riding his bicycle.
“I see him coming across the road then suddenly I hear a car speeding coming and I saying to myself, this driver will knock this man down at that speed – and he did crash into the man.”
The eyewitness said the impact caused Mr Skeete to be flung several feet away from his residence.