Accident leaves man critical

THE SON of the owner of a southern oil company narrowly escaped death yesterday when the Rover sedan he was driving slammed into a 25-foot lightpole and careened down the side of the Solomon Hochoy Highway, the lightpole pinning the driver in the mangled wreckage. Scott Tucker, 21, son of Christopher Tucker, who owns and operates Tucker Energy Services Ltd, arrived at hospital suffering serious internal injuries and a broken leg and is now in a battle for his life. Tucker remains warded in critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). Tucker was rescued after the driver of a tractor, who was proceeding along the highway when the accident occurred, used the tractor to lift the lightpole off of the car, while firemen using a hydraulic cutting device known as the “jaws of life” freed a badly bleeding  tucker from the mangled wreckage.

The incident occurred shortly after 10 am when Tucker, the lone occupant in the car, lost control of his white Rover sedan which was proceeding along the southbound section of the highway in the vicinity of Gasparillo and slammed into a lightpole on the left side of the highway. Steve Williams, driver of the tractor, who witnessed the accident and was the first person to render assistance to Tucker, recalled the incident to Newsday, “I remember when he went flying past me on the road. I saw his car swerve across the road and hit the post...then the car went off the road. The post had fallen across the car and was pinning him at the stomach.” Williams, a contract worker with WASA, said he tried to pull the iron lightpole off Tucker with the assistance of other persons who had stopped when they saw the accident. “But it was too heavy. He (Tucker) was bawling for help and he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. His legs looked like they were broken,” Williams said.