Aunt told dead man: Have a safe trip

“HAVE A SAFE TRIP.” These were the last words Roland Atwell heard on Thursday from his aunt Sandra King as he drove off from her home with a car he had purchased earlier in the day. Mere hours later, Atwell was dead - killed in an accident along the Solomon Hochoy Highway. King was still in a state of shock when Newsday spoke to her yesterday. The crying woman told Newsday she had even tried to discourage Atwell from leaving that evening. “I told Roland, ‘Boy why don’t you wait until later when the traffic cool down. Then you will go’. He said no because he wanted to visit the children so he was leaving early,” King said. Atwell, 38, was driving a Mazda 323 with his wife, Allison, seated in the passenger seat. Around 5.30 pm, while the couple were headed south along the highway, which was made slippery from a downpour, on nearing the Macaulay Flyover, he lost control of the car. Atwell’s father Leroy, said Allison told them Atwell was not driving fast but trying to avoid a hole when the car skidded out of control. The car flew across the grassy median and landed on the north-bound lane of the highway.

Police reports indicate that Atwell died instantly after he was thrown from the vehicle. Allison, Atwell’s wife of ten years, crawled out of the mangled wreck through a window. She remains warded at San Fernando General Hospital in a stable condition after sustaining a dislocated shoulder and neck injuries. Only that morning, Leroy told Newsday, the deceased had purchased the car with money he received from his Voluntary Separation Employment Package (VSEP) from Caroni (1975) Limited. Atwell worked in the Refinery division. With tears welling from his eyes, Leroy exclaimed, that was his first car and he bought it because he was going to work “PH” (private-hire) to take care of his family. He was a real family man.” Atwell was the father of six children, aged from 6 to 13 years old. The deceased’s father said they did not know how to break the news to Atwell’s children, who were spending holidays at Allison’s mother’s house at Diamond Village. “They only told the children this morning (yesterday) what happen to their father. I don’t know what will happen now,” the grieving father cried.