Man Lies Critical Following RTA; Sales Manager Arraigned

We begin tonight’s newscast with a report of a serious traffic accident that has left a man in a critical condition at the K.H.M.H. and another with a police charge. The accident happened sometime after seven on Friday night, near mile thirteen on the Phillip Goldson Highway.  While the police have not yet released details, there’s plenty for us to share on the incident, including reports that the ambulance service was very late in responding because of mechanical failure. BERT Ambulance had no comment when we called them today, but a relative of the victim said that critical time was lost due to the delay in getting their loved one to the hospital. It took the efforts of an employee from Channel Five who is trained in First Aid, along with two doctors who happened to be at the scene, to stop the patient, Alfred Garbutt, from bleeding out at the scene. We’ll hear from his sister later, but we report first on the man charged in connection with the accident.

The allegation is that a sales manager, forty-three-year-old Dennis Lawrence Johnson, was driving a white Toyota Hilux pickup truck under the influence of alcohol when he collided into the back of Garbutt’s motorcycle, sending the fifty-five-year-old cyclist crashing violently onto the pavement. Today, Johnson appeared in the Magistrate’s Court and was bailed on a charge of negligent grievous harm, pending additional charges. No plea was taken, and the prosecution informed the court that the police are expected to charge Johnson with failure to provide specimen. Today, Garbutt’s sister, Carla Garbutt, told News Five that the family is now preparing fundraisers to cover her brother’s mounting hospital bills.

 

Voice of: Carla Garbutt, Sister of traffic accident victim

“He had his foot broken and he was breathing very fast. And the ambulance that we called broke down. Thanks to Dr. Elijio from [BDF] Camp and a young man from Channel 5, and a doctor, another doctor. I don’t know his name, and another lady that was dressed in orange. They assisted, but those three medical people stopped his bleeding because the ambulance broke down. And it was for maybe an hour, hour and a half. And so Mr. Elijio had to take those little stuff that he had to prepare him from there, the ambulance came, but the ambulance was very, very late. We di do some fundraising and things because the first night, he bill da mi one thousand then he’s in I.C.U, so it’s five hundred a night and we don’t have it. And every three days, we get wa bill fi fifteen hundred dollars. So, we are doing some bread and buns today and Saturday, we are going to do a barbecue sale.”

 

Anyone wishing to support the family can contact Carla Garbutt at cell number 611- 4883.