Four injured in crash with police car on PBR

Two police officers were rushing a robbery victim to hospital when their car was involved in an accident in Mt Lambert on the Priority Bus Route on Friday morning.

Around 8.35 am, police responded to a robbery at Benefit the People Supermarket on the Eastern Main Road in Malick, Barataria, where Vietnamese national, Vien Vaa Buis was beaten and robbed.

They were on the bus route, taking Vaa Buis to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), Mt Hope, when, as their car was crossing the intersection at Mt Lambert, it crashed into a black van driven by a woman.

Two men and one woman in a nearby bar heard the accident and rushed to help. One of the men had previously worked as an emergency medical technician, and checked on the woman in the van.

"The woman looked like she couldn't move. I wasn't going to move her, because she needed a backboard. I just made sure she was alive until the ambulance came," the man told Newsday.

The other man and woman tried to get the police out of their car by breaking the sun roof. They saw the officers were moving, but couldn't get them out, so they opened the back door and Vaa Buis jumped out.

The woman who helped told Newsday: "I was just on the phone with my friend when I heard the crash. I looked over and the car looked like it was crumpled...When we opened the door in the back, a Chinese man jumped out. He was bareback and in jeans. He was covered in blood. We didn't even know he was there. We were trying to get the police out," she said.

The woman who assisted the injured people praised the first responders.

"I've got to say, the emergency responders were on point. I never see that kind of performance yet. Within five minutes they were on the scene to preserve life. I must say they did good."

Snr Supt Winston Maharaj told Newsday the four injured people are at the EWMSC in stable condition.

"The officers are fine and undergoing treatment. One is in radiology. The other has no broken bones. None of their injures are life-threatening.

"The man they were helping is in the bed next to them," Maharaj said.

Around 10.42 am, the police car was removed from the scene. Maharaj said it was a write-off.

On the robbery, Maharaj said police are still investigating.