Release ‘robbed’ driver

ON instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson, police yesterday released the driver of the car which killed Ryan Rampersad and injured his friend Anthony Smith. The 32-year-old driver had been detained by police at the Gasparillo Station following an incident on Sunday in which he claimed he was robbed. After being robbed, he said he then slammed his car into Rampersad and Smith, who were walking along the Gasparillo Main Road. Rampersad died at San Fernando General Hospital on Wednesday, while Smith remains warded with a fractured right leg and cuts to one of his ears. Police investigations led to the driver’s arrest on Monday, and his white Laser car was also impounded. On Thursday, investigators submitted reports to the DPP.

Yesterday, police said they received instructions from Henderson to release the driver, pending further investigations into the incident. Police sources told Newsday the release of the man was not the end of the matter concerning Rampersad’s death and Smith’s injuries. Investigations will continue, a police source said. When Newsday visited the driver yesterday morning at his Tarouba Main Road home in San Fernando, he insisted he was robbed, but declined to give details about Sunday’s incident. “Something happened to me and people saying all kinds of things. But let them say what they want,” the driver told Newsday. Rampersad was cremated yesterday at the Shore of Peace site on the Mosquito Creek.