Woman spends 9 days in ICU after being struck by truck

The court has suspended the driver’s licence of an intoxicated man who failed to stop the truck, in which his pregnant girlfriend was travelling, after the vehicle struck a woman who was walking along the street.

The injured pedestrian spent nine days in the intensive care unit as a result of the accident, which also left her husband with minor injuries.

However, that was not all the troubles for Murray’s Village resident Calvert Noel, who later crashed the white two-tonne truck he was driving into a utility pole.

Noel appeared before Magistrate Bertie Pompey at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and pleaded guilty to charges that on Nov. 20, 2022 at Langley Park, he being the driver of T6849 and having been involved in an accident, failed to stop the said vehicle, and that he drove the vehicle recklessly.

In presenting the facts, Corporal Wright told the court that on the date in question, Noel’s pregnant girlfriend, Nicole Forde, of Brighton/Murray’s Village, was also a passenger in the said vehicle and had to kept overnight, at the Modern Medical and Diagnostic Complex (MMDC) in Georgetown for observations.

He said that about 6:15 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2022, Trevor Forbes and his wife, Charlene, along with their grandson, of Langley Park, were on their way to a church service.

They were walking in single file along the left side of the road.

About five minutes later, the husband who was in the middle was struck on his right arm, knocking his Bible out of his grip.

The truck that struck him did not stop.

The husband immediately looked behind him and saw his wife lying on the ground.

She appeared to be unconscious.

He began shaking her but got no reaction. The husband stopped a passing vehicle and the driver transporting them to the MMDC for medical attention.

While on their way to the hospital, Forbes saw the truck that stuck him and his wife stopped in a corner near the Georgetown mall.

The vehicle in which Forbes was travelling slowed down so he could tell the driver that the truck had struck him and his wife and that he was taking her to the hospital.

Wright told the court that it was after this encounter that Forbes realised that the truck had struck an electrical pole. 

At the MMDC, Forbes was treated for minor injuries and discharged but his wife was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, in Kingstown, where she spent nine days.

Wright told the court that after the accident with the utility pole, Noel drove the truck past the Georgetown Police Station without stopping to report any of the incidents.

However, while he was driving along public road, Corporal 684 Williams was driving his private vehicle behind the truck and observed that it was swerving.

Williams tried, to no avail, to stop the driver of the truck by using his horn. The officer continued to “trail” the truck to an area in Brownstown where he was able to overtake it.

Williams passed the truck and positioned his car in front of the truck and signalled the driver to stop.

The driver complied.

Williams then approached the truck and identified himself as a police officer in plain clothes and showed him his police identification card.

Wright told the court that as Williams was questioning the driver, he observed that the driver reeked of alcohol and appeared to be intoxicated.

People on the scene informed Williams that the truck was involved in an accident at Langley Park.

Williams then telephoned the Georgetown Police Station and informed the station officer, Corporal Wright, that he had the defendant in his custody at Brownstown.

Noel was handed over to the Georgetown Police Station and Corporal Wright observed that he staggered from the door of the station to the prisoners’ bench in the station office.

Noel volunteered a statement to police the next day, saying that he did not know about any accident.

PC116 Bascombe, a gazetted motor vehicle inspector attached to the Police Garage,

carried out investigations on the truck the following day and noticed that the vehicle was badly damaged.

Meanwhile, when the magistrate asked Noel if he had anything to say, he responded,

“No!”

“You think up here is a republic so you can drive anyhow you like?” Pompey asked the defendant.

“You had total disregard for your girlfriend who was pregnant at the time. And this is how you driving? You want to impress her?” the magistrate further said.

Prosecutor Corporal Delando Charles told the court that the defendant showed no remorse in the courtroom. 

He said Noel left an accident scene and got into another accident while intoxicated.

In pointing out the seriousness of the crime, the prosecutor told the court that section 2 of the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act said the defendant is liable to a fine of EC$2,500 and six months imprisonment.

He said the law also speaks about disqualification.

Pompey barred Noel from driving, holding or obtaining a driver’s permit for a year.

For driving in a reckless manner, he was fined EC$1,500 to be paid in one month or four months imprisonment

For failing to stop at the scene of an accident, he was fined EC$500 to be paid forthwith or three months imprisonment.

The prosecutor commended Corporal Wright on his investigation of the matter.

Editor’s note: This article was updated at 9:13 p.m. on March 1, 2023, to clarify which of the women was pregnant.