Prison officer Mahendra Ramdial stopped on the Solomon Hochoy Highway on his way home from work yesterday morning to render aid to an accident victim. But his good deed ended up costing him his life.
Twenty-seven-year-old Ramdial also known as Brandon died after he was struck by a van which crashed into him.
The impact caused him to be thrown into the air and he landed 200 metres away.
The incident occurred shortly before 6 am on the southbound lane after the Freeport tunnel.
Ramdial noticed an accident along the median of the highway. He stopped, parked his car on the shoulder and came out to go assist the motorists, but he never made it.
The 47-year-old driver of the van which struck Ramdial told police he lost control of his Mazda BT50 after he hit debris—a bumper and rim—from the other accident.
The van veered off the road and struck Ramdial and a light pole.
When Guardian Media visited Ramdial’s Calcutta No 2, Couva home, tents were erected in preparation for the wake.
Relatives were not surprised that Ramdial lost his life trying to help others.
“The nature of Brandon is that he will help anyone, under any condition,” said his uncle Harold Narrie.
Ramdial was assigned to guard inmates seeking treatment at the Caura Hospital and was returning home after finishing his shift.
“The vehicle that was coming southbound swerved from hitting pieces of the vehicle, from the accident, and by trying to avoid hitting that, the guy pulled on the left side and hit Brandon,” said Narrie.
On impact, he said, Ramdial was flung about 200 metres and died within minutes.
His aunt, Reshma Ramnath, said this was the second unexpected death in the family in six months.
She said her sister, Savitri Ramnath, who was like Ramdial’s mother, died suddenly in January.
“I didn’t get over my sister yet and have to go through this; and he was my everything, closer to my sister,” she lamented.
Meanwhile, Narrie complained that there were a lot of “speedsters” on the highway.
“The police can’t be everywhere but we have responsibilities. We have a responsibility to ourselves. The life you take could be your own. The life you take could be your family’s own. The life you take could be the breadwinner. Some accidents are unavoidable due to weather but speeding is not something that anyone should try at all, no matter how late you are because you are putting yourself in danger and you are also putting the other folks in danger,” he lamented.
Ramdial would have celebrated his first wedding anniversary on August 9 and had planned to start constructing his home. He worked in the Prison Service for almost five years.
Officers from the Freeport Police Station are investigating.