Biker dies after driving into Maracas pothole

Ashmeed “Speedo” Ali was planning to celebrate his 43rd birthday tomorrow with his nieces, nephews and close friends at his businessplace in La Romain. Sadly, this plan was shattered after Ali was killed when his motorcycle,  a red Suzuki 400, drove into a pothole on the North Coast Road near the lookout, throwing him to the ground. He landed on his back and injured his neck. He was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, but died on arrival. Ali was returning home from a beach lime with other bikers early Friday evening. “As usual before he left I told him to be careful on the road. I did not like him riding bike. I always tell him to take the car,” his distraught mother, Patricia Ali, told Newsday. Ashmeed, proprietor of Cafe Baku, a restaurant and bar, lived with his mother at Bamboo Village, La Romain.

Ali separated from his wife, Abrina, several years ago, but their son, Amir, 19, lived with him. Describing her son as a friendly and outgoing person, his mother said Ali had left home on Friday with several other bikers to go to Las Cuevas beach. She said on Friday night someone calling from the bar a short distance away from the accident scene, told her he was involved in an accident, but that it was nothing serious. “Half-an-hour later, another person came and told me he had died,” the mother of four said. She said although her son had been riding motorbikes for several years, he stopped for a while and only started riding again earlier this year when he bought a new bike. His funeral was expected to have taken place yesterday evening under Muslim rites.