Hattieville residents say speedbumps will prevent tragedy
In yesterday’s newscast we reported on the knockdown and death of a bicyclist in the village of Hattieville. This morning I traveled to the roadside community and discovered that what many journalists all too often see only as a printed police report, has a far more personal and urgent meaning to the people touched by the tragedy.
Just a single pedal from the bike of seventeen year old Tommy Lee Banner, remains embedded at the spot where the high school student was tragically killed on Saturday, November fourteenth. Banner had been fishing all day at mile twelve and was returning with his younger brother Antonio and friend, Fred Gordon, when he was struck from behind by a pickup truck. Contrary to what is being reported, villagers say, the vehicle was speeding and when it reached a curve between mile fifteen and sixteen, the driver apparently lost control and ran off the highway before slamming into Banner. Derrol Lemoth, who lives just in front of where the accident took place, said he, along with a friend, Daniel Novelo were sitting on the verandah when they witnessed the death of their friend.
Derrol Lemoth, Eyewitness
“That’s what drew my attention because I hear the gravel, how the gravel just make a lot of noise with the tire and when I look, I see it just knock the little boy from in front of my house there. Knock him and killed him on the spot.
I just see the little white Isuzu, white with red streaks and black streaks just come from no where and knock the little boy, knock the back one and he fly and knock the next two from off their bike. And the bikes they just skate on the road and the vehicle it just run over the three bikes them.”
Daniel Novelo, Eyewitness
“The vehicle just approach out of no where, ran off the highway while taking the curve. It did not take the curve; it ran off the highway. The three fellows, they were on the side of the road and suddenly when I saw Banner got hit, he got hit first. But the space from where the vehicle went off the road, I would say at least twenty feet, so it could have had a chance to at least try to swerve away from the young men.”
Novelo said the driver, who has been identified as Carlos Can from Benque Viejo, did not stop and render any kind of assistance. According to Lemoth and Novelo, Can first sped off, then turned around and headed straight back to Belize City.
Daniel Novelo
“So when he knock down Banner and gone and knock down the two boys, we try to stop him, he never stop. He went up by the highway by the police station and turn around. And when he turn around and came back up and saw me over Thomas dead body, he took off again and that’s when me and Ms. Gracey got the license plate number, cause he never did stop to render assistance, he just went towards Belize again.”
Banner, who is from Roatan, Honduras had been living in Belize for the last two years and was making preparations to go back home to study.
Helen Banner, Mother
“All he wished was to go back home. Talks about Roatan, he wants to go home. And then last week, only in this last week, he said mommy, you won’t send me, mommy you won’t send me. And I said, Tommy, you could understand, he is seventeen years old, I am only waiting until you get your passport and you are leaving.”
Helen Banner believes that the accident was made more tragic because it could have been easily prevented.
Helen Banner
“If they had speed bumps in this village, my son would have been living today. My son would be living today. It’s very important.”
Jacqueline Woods
“For more than two years, villagers say they have been trying to get speed bumps erected along the highway, that has become far too dangerous for residents of Hattieville Village.”
Grace Ferguson, Resident, Hattieville Village
“Very much concerned and even more so because all the time accidents happen, we are crying for speed bumps because the drivers, most of them, drive through the village with so much speed.”
Helen Banner
“They pass like wild, up the road. Look at that little girl there, couple of weeks ago, couple of months ago, same thing catch her. These vehicles, they don’t slow down when they pass through this town. They will not slow down. Who it catch, it catches.”
Lemoth says too often he has been awakened by the sounds of gravel and screeching tires and says it is about time the Ministry of Works does something about the problem.
Derrol Lemoth
“The other day between sleep and wake, I was lying down on my floor there. When I look, I hear just a lot of noise. The same gravel making a lot of noise and when I look, I see a guy down the road there with only the point of his vehicle out of the bush. He nearly killed himself. The two of them, fly off the road cause he took the curve with too much speed.”
The villagers say some years ago there were speed bumps laid down along the highway, but they were all taken up for the annual Holy Saturday Cross Country cycle race… and never replaced.
Carlos Can has been charged by police for manslaughter by negligence, failing to render assistance and other crimes stemming from the hit and run.
