Cyclist suffers severe head, other injuries
– Police vehicle reportedly in the wrong
A THIRTY-five-year-old cyclist and father of three, who was struck down by a police patrol vehicle on the Land of Canaan Public Road around 19:15h yesterday, was last night admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital in a serious condition.

The victim, Rawle Hudson, a plumber employed with A. Gafoor and Sons in the same Land of Canaan neighbourhood, was on admission at the institution said to be suffering from severe head injuries, a fractured shoulder, as well as a fractured leg.

Reports are that his injuries are so severe, he needed a CT scan, which could not be done at the Diamond Regional Hospital where he was initially taken following the accident.

Eyewitnesses say the police patrol vehicle, which was heading in the direction of Soesdyke, was chasing after a ‘Route 40’ minibus along the Land of Canaan Public Road when the accident occurred.

They claim that Hudson, who hails from Port Kaituma in the North West District but now resides at Land of Canaan Gardens, was on his way home from work when tragedy struck.

He was in front of the Two Brothers Gas Station, just a stone’s throw away from where he lives, when the speeding vehicle crashed into his cycle. On impact, he was reportedly hurled several feet into the air before landing on the road, about 100 feet from the point of impact.

This little caper of the driver of the vehicle sent villagers in that vicinity scurrying out of the way and diving for cover as the ‘road madness’ continued. At the end of it all, the cycle ended up on one side of the road, and one of its wheels on the other side.

It is not clear how other police ranks got wind of the accident, but within minutes, residents say, they turned up at the scene where the injured Hudson lay bleeding in the middle of the road, hurriedly picked him up and bundled into one of their vehicles and whisked him away to the Diamond Hospital.

“It all happened like clockwork,” one eyewitness said, adding that the driver of the patrol car apparently panicked, and at one stage was seen to be running away from the vehicle.

Soon after Hudson was taken to the hospital, a crash truck reportedly arrived on the scene and took the damaged motorcar and badly mangled pedal cycle away.

As the loud sound of the crash filled the quiet countryside community, word was quickly passed around, and residents soon came running out to enquire what had transpired. Ironically, Hudson’s reputed wife, Rannie Ramcharran and her 12-year-old son who were among those running out of their homes, received the shock of their lives when they realized who the victim was.

The distraught child recalled that his mother arrived on the scene a little ahead of him, and that when he got there, he found her weeping bitterly. She hurriedly related to him what had happened, before rushing into a vehicle which took her to the Diamond Hospital.

Hoping and praying that their loved one would pull through, given the severity of his head injuries, Ramcharran and other relatives were last night making arrangements for him to have the CT scan done today.