Accidents claim 2 lives

The dead have been identified by police as teacher Debra Toussaint-Blackman, 49, of Augustine Road in Belmont and a man known only as “Dog.”

In the first incident, at about 8 pm on Saturday Toussaint-Blackman was proceeding south along the Manzanilla Mayaro Road in her silver gray Daihatsu Terios SUV when on reaching Kernaham Road, she lost control of the vehicle.

The van ran off the road and collided with several coconut trees. By the time Rio Claro firemen arrived on the scene and used the hydraulic cutting device known commonly as the “Jaws of Life,” to get to a trapped Toussaint-Blackman, she was already dead.

District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Clair, viewed the body and ordered it removed to the Sangre Grande Mortuary. Visiting the scene were Cpl Williams, PCs Knight, Ramdhan, Mohammed and Jackson of the Mayaro Police Station.

In the other incident, at about 12.10 am yesterday, the man whom police knew only as ‘Dog’, was sitting in the front passenger seat of a grey Honda Civic car driven by Leslie Walcott, 23, of Old Government Road in Tobago.

A police report stated that upon reaching Connector Road in San Fernando, Walcott lost control of the car, which ran off the road slamming into a steel railing on the western side of the road before flipping over.

Eyewitnesses told police the front passenger was hurled through the front windscreen by the impact and he landed in the road. Both occupants were taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where the passenger was pronounced dead on arrival.

Walcott was treated for cuts and bruises and later sent home. San Fernando Traffic Branch officers are continuing investigations.