Child, 2, struck by maxi

A two-year-old child was warded in serious condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sci-ences Complex yesterday, after he was struck by a runaway maxi-taxi at the Diego Martin Main Road. The child, Tyrel Roberts, suffered severe head injuries as a result of the crash. The driver of the maxi-taxi was detained at the West End Police Station late yesterday after officers discovered that he was not in possession of a driver’s permit and insurance. The mother of the child, Annmarie Jerry, 21, of Waterfall Road, Diego Martin, told investigators that she was standing with Tyrel at the side of the road when suddenly, before she could act, the maxi skidded off the road, struck her son and then ended up in a drain. She said that she was unable to even throw herself in the path of the maxi to prevent her child from being injured because the incident happened so quickly.

When Newsday arriv-ed on the scene, minutes after the incident took place, passengers in the maxi taxi said that they too were shaken up over the incident. They said that they saw the driver reportedly nodding away while driving the vehicle but they paid no real attention to him. One woman told Newsday that the vehicle swerved off the road and into the drain. She said that she heard a woman crying out “my son, my son” and then she and other passengers be-gan crawling through the windows of the vehicle. The driver of the maxi-taxi walked up and down the busy Diego Martin Main road and looked on in disbelief at the entire incident. He was jeered by passengers, other mo-torists and members of the public.

Nearby, Jerry collapsed on the road while her son was being put in a taxi which took her and the injured child to the Port-of-Spain General Hospi-tal. The driver of the vehicle, a 32-year-old man of Savannah Trace, Diego Martin, gave a statement to the police late yesterday. Police told Newsday that around 11.20 am, the maxi taxi was proceeding north along the Diego Martin Main Road, close to the West End Police Station, when the driver lost control of the vehicle. It struck the child and ended up in a drain at the eastern side of the road.