P.G. man critical after Saturday night accident

A Punta Gorda man has been charged with drunk driving following a traffic accident on the Southern Highway on Saturday night. According to the authorities, thirty year old Ernesto Rash has been arraigned on charges of driving a motor vehicle with an alcohol limit above the prescribed amount, driving without due care and attention, and negligent grievous harm. Reports are that around seven that night Rash knocked down twenty-nine year old Javier Herron, critically injuring him. This morning I visited his worried family members at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Tonight twenty-nine year old Javier Herron is fighting for his life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Herron was knocked down only a short distance away from the home he shares with his wife and baby in Yemeri Grove Village in the Toledo District. The young father suffered severe head and body injuries and remains in an unconscious state.

Georgia Herron, Wife
?To see a loved one not to recognise them, that your husband does not recognise, doesn?t respond to you or respond to the baby?s name; it is very, very, very hard.?

According to police, Herron was knocked down by thirty year old Ernesto Rash. Rash has told Punta Gorda cops that around six-thirty on Saturday evening he was in his Isuzu pickup truck when he hit a red motorcycle that was travelling in the same direction between miles eight and nine on the Southern Highway.

But the Herron family contends that their loved one was not on his bike, but was standing off the road. Twenty-four year old Georgia Herron maintains Rash admitted being responsible for the accident to her in front of a police officer. She also claims he was intoxicated.

Georgia Herron
?He didn?t see my husband, but he saw the cycle and he admitted that he had hit it. He said, I hit the cycle but I didn?t know if I hit your husband. That?s what he told me.?

?He wasn?t that calm to me, but I told him I am not seeking an argument with you. All I am asking you is what happened? How you did this? He said your husband was my friend too, I did not mean it. My windshield was fogged too you know. But he was drunk and I am saying that for fact because it is a fact. He smells of rum of liquor and the police was right there and he could verify everything that I am saying right now.?

The family clings to hope as they keep their bedside vigil, but doctors say Javier Herron?s prognosis is not good.

Georgia Herron
?Because of the very hard knock that he got; his brains is damaged, it?s full of blood clots right now and he is still haemorrhaging and they said they would probably have to operate. But they said they cannot do the operation here that is what they are saying. But they said they still have to do more close up on it, follow up on it so that is right now and my husband isn?t improving.?

Two months ago Javier and Georgia Herron celebrated the birth of their daughter Marlena Herron. Today the distraught woman appealed to all motorists to be responsible drivers as her life and that of her baby has been destroyed due to the careless actions of another.

Georgia Herron
?The danger of drinking and of driving drunk on the road. It?s not you who is drinking, who is driving and drinking, it is someone else who is innocent who has a family and a home as my baby right now, as I have. It?s that person who will get hurt not the one who is doing the wrong. Please realise and in this time when everyone is drinking let them think twice because it is very serious and it hurts a family.?

According to court officials, Ernesto Rash has been released on bail in the amount of four thousand dollars plus two sureties of the same amount. He is scheduled to reappear in Punta Gorda Magistrate’s Court on January thirty-first.