6 Year-Old Girl Struck Down in Accident
Tragedy struck on Sunday night in Belize City when a six-year-old girl was knocked down and killed sometime before seven o’clock. Ashanti Pollard and her mother Dawn Swasey were walking on Fabers Road Extension when a car travelling at high speed hit Pollard. The child received massive head and body injuries and died within less than two hours at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. The vehicle was driven at the time by forty-three-year-old Albert Martinez who was detained on the scene. A cousin of the deceased spoke with News Five today; she recounts the tragic moments.
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased
“All of a sudden we hear a bang from up the street from weh we mi deh. We notice dah wah car without light mi di come through the cutoff. And same time, the mother di walk with the child, weh dah my lee niece. We neva know dah she get bang, we mi think dah wah dog. But when we get pan the scene, we notice dah my lee niece deh pan the ground ina di corner.”
Isani Cayetano
“Share with us the reaction and the response from the driver of the vehicle and anybody else who may have witnessed this incident?”
Voice of: Cousin of Deceased
“Well when we notice the driver come out of the vehicle and look like he run pan the scene; he neva notice that di lee gial deh ina di corner. I see he run out with a flashlight mussi fi flash the light because the area weh di lee gial mi deh mi dark. So he run into the lee gial and he neva know weh fi do; he mi look like shock. From there I move from the scene and then the mother run home and come and tell we that dah ih daughter ketch ina accident on the spot. Well I noh know weh fi say cause dah wah innocent lee gial. I mean dehn drivers have to drive with dehn light. His car mi deh without light and he di come fast through the cutoff; I mean you noh see the mother and the child di walk? When I look down the street, I see the vehicle di come under speed. I noh know if the driver drunk or what; but according to the neighbors, he mi di text pan ih phone. So he noh mussi see the lady and ih daughter di walk.”
Martinez is expected to be charged with manslaughter by negligence; causing death by careless conduct and driving without due care and attention. Police say that a urine sample was also obtained from him.
