Woman gets ticket on bus route despite medical emergency

Lineaie Hernandez-Thomas was desperate to get her daughter Tomeaie Trim to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where she works, after the teenager complained of difficulty breathing.

In her rush to get there, she made the decision to avoid the traffic congestion on the Eastern Main Road near Arima and instead turned onto the Priority Bus Route heading to the hospital, where her daughter had been treated days earlier.

When she reached Aranguez, she was stopped in a roadblock and was given a $2000 ticket and made to turn back onto the main road while her 17-year-old daughter sat in the back seat of her car gasping for breath.

Police officers asked Hernandez-Thomas if she had permission to use the bus route, and she said no, but told the officer she had a medical emergency. She showed the police officers her hospital identification and explained that her daughter was having an asthma attack, but the police did not believe her.

"I cried and begged them to let me pass, but they insisted that I was not supposed to be on the bus route. One officer saw me speaking to other officers and approached us and ordered the other men to execute the ticket. My daughter was sitting in the back seat wheezing and holding on to a bag that she was using in case she wanted to vomit," Hernandez-Thomas continued.

Hernandez-Thomas is questioning whether police officers are trained to identify a medical emergency.

The teenager has since been treated and stabilised after an asthma attack.

Now that her daughter is out of danger, Hernandez-Thomas wants police officers to take into consideration the reasons people are on the bus route before issuing tickets.