NY Trini jailed for drunken car crash

Keegan Sooknanan, 17, and elder brother Kevin, 21, of First Street, Lesophie Avenue, Gasparillo, died instantly when the car Persad was driving crashed into a tree off the Southern State Parkway in Bay Shore.

The accident occurred on February 19, 2004, and Persad, 24, was found to be driving with a blood alcohol level which was double the legal limit. He also had no driver’s licence and was driving a vehicle that was neither insured nor registered.

Persad, born in Princes Town, lives in Brentwood, Long Island. At his trial last week, prosecutors asked for a sentence of between five to 15 years.

Yesterday, the mother of the brothers who were killed in the crash, Chandra Sooknanan, said her husband, Bharose, had gone to Long Island in New York for the trial. "My son (Keegan) long for two things — to see snow and his older brother — Kevin. They both met their deaths."

The Sooknanans have one other son and a daughter.

Keegan had arrived in New York a week before the incident. Persad picked up Keegan and Kevin in Brentwood, and they went for a drive. According to a report in the New York Newsday, Kevin was in the front passenger seat while his brother Keegan, was sitting in the back. The report stated that Persad was driving east when the car went off the shoulder near Exit 41. The car crashed into a tree and was cut in half.

Keegan was pronounced dead at the scene, while Kevin was taken to Southside Hospital in Bayshore. He was later pronounced dead.

The report stated that Persad, who was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, suffered head trauma and internal injuries. He was discharged and hit with a number of charges including drunken driving.

In what the New York Newsday reported as a plea bargain deal struck between prosecutors and attorneys, Suffolk County Court Judge James FX Doyle sentenced Persad in Riverhead.

In court, prosecutor Glenn Kurzrock read a letter from the victims’ mother, Chandra. She stated that her two sons had dreamed of becoming engineers, and that Kevin was the primary supporter of the family. Judge Doyle was told that Kevin used to send money back home to pay the medical bills for his nine-year-old sister who has a heart problem.

Yesterday, from her Gasparillo home, Chandra told Newsday: "Kevin used to call us every day. Now that is no more." Chandra said she is not pleased with the sentence. "My life feels meaningless to me. I lost two sons, but where is the justice?"