Winemaker Knocked Down and Killed on the George Price Highway

Chester Requeña

A winemaker lost his life in a highway accident on Wednesday night.  Chester Requeña’s family always feared for his safety because he spent a lot of time traversing the stretch of highway where he was killed and last night their worst fears came true. Today, his family says that this is the third time he has been knocked down.  Here’s the story.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Fifty-three-year-old Chester Requeña was walking at mile two and a half on the George Price Highway just before eight o’clock on Wednesday night when he was knocked down and killed on the spot. His Sister Andrea Requena says it is a stretch of a road he would walk every day.

Andrea Requeña, Sister of the Deceased

“I heard that he was walking on the highway and was dropping one of his friends halfway and I heard that they knocked him down. I saw it on the news and I zoomed it and said right away that is my brother.”

Andrea Polanco

“Now that area is an area he is always travelling?”

Andrea Requeña  

“Every single day he deh on that stretch of road; every single day.”

Requeña was a winemaker who lived at mile four off the George Price Highway which is just down the road from where he lost his life. Requena says that she always feared for her brother’s safety.

Andrea Requeña

Andrea Requeña

“Every day he come into the city. He usually do his lee business because he sells wine and so they know him as wine man or danto – that’s how people him.  Yesterday on my way home I see ah when I mi deh inna the bus and I just stared on him until I get outta sight and that was the last time I saw him.  We tell ah about it mek he nuh ride on the road at night because one of these nights he will get knocked down. This is like the third time he get knocked down and before that he mi lose one of his teeth and this is his last.”

Winemaker Chester Requeña is remembered as a kind and fun-loving man who worked hard to make a living.

Voice of: Pearl Molina, Sister of the Deceased

“He loved his nieces and nephews so much – that was like a job for him. He made those kids childhood very fun-filled and meaningful. He always set a good example for them. It is the same for those around him. He would go and sell stuff he would sell them and give something away as well. He was a very kindhearted person.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.

The driver of the SUV twenty-four-year-old B.D.F. soldier Benedict Joseph Sabal was served with a notice of intended prosecution.