‘Lock that cop up!’

RELATIVES of Shervon Medina, the 46-year-old woman killed in a car accident on the Diego Martin Main Road Tuesday night, are calling for the Special Reserve Police officer (SRP) who drove the car to be arrested and charged with manslaughter.

The SRP is said to have been questioned and then discharged from hospital. He has not been called out for duty since the incident with police sources saying as of yesterday, he was a free man.

Relatives who had just left the morgue at Port of Spain General Hospital said Medina suffered massive lacerations to her head and body and died from severe blunt force trauma.

“It was a horrible death,” said Michelle Medina, the victim’s sister.

“It is so unfair to see people lose their lives and have the person who did it walking around free. It wasn’t as though she was crossing the road. She was on the pavement.”

Medina, the mother of one and grandmother of twin boys, was walking at the side of Diego Martin Main Road when she was run over by a speeding car driven by the SRP who was last posted at the Emergency Response Unit (ERU).

Police investigating the matter were told the driver was trying to overtake another car when he clipped the front of it and lost control. Police said his car mounted the pavement and slammed into Medina. Relatives are accepting no excuses.

“If he was driving at a proper speed, he would not have to overtake anyone,” Michelle said. “Even if he had overtaken a car and lost control and hit her, if he were driving at a proper speed she might have still been alive. Did you see how fast he was going? He wasn’t speeding, he was flying. This is a homicide,” she insisted.

Michelle told Newsday that when their mother died in 2004, Shervon moved to Pinto Road, Arima, then moved to Diego Martin a year ago. Relatives who lived on the same street described her as a jovial, sparkly woman.

Her family called on Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith to do everything possible to ensure a proper investigation. Relatives said the police officer set a bad example with the way he drove.

“If you are arresting people for speeding, and that is what you are doing on the road, what are you leaving for regular citizens to do,” Michelle asked. “It would be hard for any family to go through what we are experiencing right now. I cannot sleep and I cannot stop seeing the video of her death. The only comfort to us now is knowing that officer is brought to justice.”