Still no justice for hit-and-run victim

The family of an elderly Baptist church leader is still in the dark about what really happened when he was struck by a vehicle last year, and left bed-ridden.{{more}}

In October 2010, Dennis Peters was the victim of a hit-and-run vehicular accident that left his foot crushed. There were no witnesses, and the driver of the vehicle never came forward.

Peters was left at the side of the road for some time, before a concerned passer-by stopped and took him to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital.

This is something that has left Peters’s family in great distress; as he lost a lot of blood, and suffered from broken bones and torn ligaments in his foot.

Before the incident, Peters was already suffering from Alzheimer’s disease – which caused him to regularly wander away from his home in Stubbs, and walk to Cedars.

It was on October 22, 2010, on one of his walks to Cedars, that tragedy struck along the Argyle stretch.

According to a family member, Peters’s condition was already a financial strain on the family, and him being bed-ridden now has increased that.

“It’s a hard thing on all of us!” he lamented.

In particular, it has been a struggle for Peters’s wife Elizabeth Nathan, who is his sole care-giver.

Peters underwent a skin graft, and seven surgeries.

The family member said that Peters, who was a reverend at the St. Elizabeth Baptist Church in Belmont, lead an active life before Alzheimer’s took effect.

“He played cricket, on the same team as Mike Findlay,” he recalled.

He explained that even though Peter’s disease slowed him down, he was still able to move about freely. Now that he [Peters] is bed-ridden, he believes that it has accelerated the disease’s advancement.

“The age has caught up with him… he’s still in a lot of pain!” he explained.

Peters has a daughter from another relationship, who also spoke to SEARCHLIGHT.

Yvonne Pompey-Dublin, who lives at Cedars, said that when he was mobile, her father would often wander away from home and come to her residence.

She said that a neighbour told her about the incident shortly after it happened, and also said that she had heard a rumour that it was a worker at the Argyle International Airport construction site who was driving the vehicle that hit her father.

Pompey-Dublin said that she visited her father while he was in hospital, and recalled how horrified she was with his injury.

“His foot looked so bad!” she said.

She made an appeal for anyone who witnessed the accident to come forward – and also for the perpetrator to turn him/herself in.

“If it was an accident… come tell the family,” she urged.

“He’s not an animal. You don’t even treat animals like this!”

His son, who preferred not to be named, also appealed for witnesses and the perpetrator to come forward.

“I am saddened that this happened… and that the person refuses to come forward,” he said.

He appealed to anyone with information, to put themself in his shoes, and imagine how they would feel if this had happened to his/her parent.

“We are all human beings. Just come forward so we can know what happened!”

When contacted, an officer at the Stubbs Police Station (where the incident was reported) said that the matter is still under investigation.(JV)