People came snapping pictures, instead of helping driver – home owner

A family of Casson Hill, who live below the embankment of the busy main road, are counting their blessings after they all escaped injury from a vehicle that ran off the road, hit their house roof and landed in their yard.

The crash sent four children between the ages 9 and 16 scampering for safety.

Occupants of the house, Alonzo and Ronique James, think that it was God’s intervention that saved the four boys who were playing in the same spot where the vehicle landed, but were quick enough to get away when the vehicle came over the embankment some time after 3 p.m. last Saturday.{{more}}

According to Ronique, it was her son’s birthday and he and three other family members were hand wrestling on the porch wall, when they heard a loud noise, looked up and saw a vehicle coming over the embankment.

The vehicle came over, hit the house roof and fit snuggly between the house and the retaining wall. Ronique said that she was inside with her three-year-old daughter at the time of the accident and when she heard the commotion she thought that the roof was caving in, so she covered her daughter and waited for the impact.

Ronique said that after she was sure that the roof was not going to fall in, she went outside and saw the four boys, aged 9, 13, 14 and 16 cowering in a corner of the porch and a grey sport utility vehicle (SUV) wedged between her home and the retaining wall.

She said that it was a terrifying experience and what made it worse was that the first persons to arrive on the scene began taking photos and videos, instead of helping the driver, Kashika King of Edinboro.

Ronique said that King appeared to be in shock, but uninjured.

“I really need this to come out, because although I was very upset because the the kids were here, she was stuck in the vehicle and people came snapping pictures instead of helping her. I thought it was inhumane, so I cursed the guy and told him why is it he taping, instead of helping. It was ridiculous,” said Ronique.

She said that after a while, some persons helped King out of the vehicle, but the photo taking and taping did not stop.

“When my husband came, he was upset because he knew he left the kids right there, but the spectators did not care how we felt,” stressed Ronique, who noted that there was a heated exchange of words between her husband and some men, one of whom threatened to hit him with a stone.

“I said this is crazy. They were violating our privacy and we moved and they came where we were and were snapping us. The children there traumatized and people making comments and laughing. It was very terrible and it showed me how inhumane people are,” said Ronique, who revealed that the situation was exacerbated by the fact that the driver seemed not to be telling the truth about how she crashed.

“I asked her if she was okay and she said she blacked out. I had believed until I heard other people talk. She was overtaking and a vehicle was coming so she swerved and came over,” said Ronique, who added that no one at the scene seemed to have been sympathizing with them, although it was obvious that the children were traumatized and extremely scared.

Ronique said that they have been living in that spot for 13 years and this is the first time that a vehicle had come over, but three vehicles hit the spot directly above their house on three separate occasions.

“We have to move, we are moving, this experience really change the way I look at things. I would never snap an accident or anything like that again. My family was almost killed and people had a lot of negative things to say,” said Ronique, who added that she saw posts on Facebook making fun of the incident.

Alonzo, who was in Kingstown at the time of the incident, said when he got the call telling him what had happened, he took a taxi and came home.

“I was scared because I knew the vehicle dropped where the kids were playing. I feel the children need counselling,” said Alonzo, who revealed that two of the boys have been having nightmares and the youngest boy thinks about the crash a lot.

“This place is not safe, it need some stronger barriers,” stressed Alonzo, who described living in that spot as “extremely frightening”.

According to the Traffic Department of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), the vehicle that ran off the road is owned by Kenneth King of Kingstown and was being driven by Kashika King of Edinboro. Police say the driver was travelling into Kingstown when she overtook a vehicle, then swerved to avoid colliding with another vehicle. In doing so, she went over the embankment.(LC)