SUV plunges 150 feet down cliff, Calder man hospitalized

A 44-year-old mechanic of Calder remains a patient at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) with bruises about his body and internal injuries, after his vehicle plunged off an embankment, estimated to be 150 feet high.{{more}}

Trevor Deane was the driver and lone passenger in the green RAV 4, PC 176, when it ran off the Windward highway, rolled over a cliff and landed on its roof on the seashore in the Spring/Peruvian Vale area.

The accident took place sometime around 4:55 a.m. last Friday.

According to police reports, Deane was heading towards Biabou after leaving Stubbs.

Unable to speak clearly, Deane raised his right thumb to signal that he was okay, when SEARCHLIGHT visited him yesterday at the MCMH.

The injured man, who appeared to be in pain, pointed about his body, showing bruises to his left knee, both arms and face.

He also pointed to his lung area and mumbled, “My lung is also damaged…”

Deane was also wearing a cervical collar (neck brace).

The circumstances leading up to the accident are still unclear, as police investigations continue.

Meanwhile, a man, by the name of Raymond, who claims to have witnessed the accident, told SEARCHLIGHT that he heard the revving of the vehicle’s engine before it plunged over the bank.

Raymond, a resident of Biabou, said he was walking home from Peruvian Vale after midnight, and when he got to the area where the accident occurred, he decided to stop and rest under a shed, on the opposite side of the road.

“Ah had a little too much alcohol in the system. So I decided to lay down under the shed until morning, because it been done past midnight, and I wasn’t going to walk all the way home feeling how I was; I had to rest a bit.

“Vehicles were passing all night. Just before that one fly over the bank, one passed heading to town under full speed. Then a little while after, all I heard was a loud rev…

“Then, when I look to see what it was, I just saw the jeep go over the bank, like when you throw a bottle over. All ah heard was bah, dang, bang then a loud bang. That must be when it dropped on the roof,” Raymond explained.

Raymond said he summoned help from persons living close by.

“I dey shouting, ‘help, help, big accident,’” he said.

He said two persons responded to his shouts for help and the police were summoned.

Raymond said it was a difficult task to get to where Deane’s overturned vehicle was.

“We had to walk a good way round, almost like going into Biabou, before we found a track leading down to the shore.

“I thought that man was dead, but when we got to him, we meet him out the jeep, laying in the bushes; like he crawl out, and was trying to climb back up to the road. But he just laid there bawling. You could ah see he was in real pain,” Raymond continued.

Deane’s vehicle was extensively damaged. The entire right side of the vehicle, including the roof, was smashed. The hood was also ripped open, exposing parts of the engine. (AA)