Hit and run miracle

People are calling it a miracle.

Seema Kelly Ramkissoon, 20, was pitched in the air by a car on Thursday night while and fortunately she suffering only a fractured shoulder and a broken hand. Yesterday, her father, Sieunarine Ramkissoon, called on the motorist whose car struck his daughter while she was crossing the San Francique road, Penal, to surrender to the police.

Ramkissoon said that Seema, her husband Stephon Nanan, her sister Sally and Sally’s husband Mark, went to a supermarket on San Francique Road in Penal on Thursday night when the incident occurred. There are two supermarkets, Better Bargains and Nan’s Variety Store, located directly opposite each other along the main road. Seema and Nanan, he said, left Nan’s Variety and were crossing the road to go to Better Bargains.

CCTV footage of the incident, posted on social media, shows the young couple holding hands and crossing the street. When they were about halfway across, a car speeds towards them. Nanan stops but Seema is seen sprinting forward to avoid being struck. The car slams into her and sends Seema flying in the air. She landed in a drain a short distance away.

The driver of the vehicle, a burgundy-coloured Nissan Almera, did not stop but put on even more speed as it drove off. Newsday visited the Ramkissoons at the family’s Bheemul Trace, San Francique home yesterday. Seema is warded at the San Fernando General Hospital in a stable condition.

Ramkissoon said, “She could have died with that lash. The man who hit should do the right thing and give up himself to the police because they still looking for him.” Seema’s husband, Nanan, recounted the incident, saying, “After work we decided to go for ice cream. We looked both sides of the road and no cars were coming.

“We decided to cross and we were almost across the road. I was still in the road but I saw the car coming. I stopped, but she tried to run across the road and the car pulled and hit her. It had no car in the road when we were going to cross. She hit the bonnet, then the windscreen and then up in the air she went. She landed in a drain.”

Nanan said that he inquired from residents who saw the impact but the only information he got was the colour and make of the vehicle. Nanan said that he saw his wife in the drain and she was starring wide-eyed and unaware what had happened. “People who were around called the ambulance and the police and the ambulance took her to hospital. Her eyes were open but she didn’t know herself. People helped me and we lifted her up gently and placed on a board,” Nanan said. PC Seegobin is continuing inquiries.