In what could only be described as a twist of fate, 19-year-old Princes Town resident Clint Marc Stephen Sookhan was killed by a hit-and-run driver moments after surviving a car crash.Sookhan, of Pond Street, Manahambre Road, was standing next to his B13 car along the Uriah Butler Highway, near the Caroni overpass, yesterday, when a dark-coloured pickup ran into him.
He had just escaped serious injury after his car crashed into a median around 1.45 am, when he was knocked down. The teenager, who was employed at CMR and Co, Marabella, died on the spot. The driver of the pickup did not stop after the accident.Ironically, Sookhan was talking to his mother, Seeta, on his cellphone at the time, telling her not to worry as he had just survived an accident and was not injured.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian at the teenager's home yesterday, his uncle, Rudy, 49, said the family wants the driver to come forward."How could you bounce down another human being and just drive off? We are pleading, we are begging you to go to the police station and make a report. You need to come forward and tell us what happened," he said.Sookhan's aunt, Sandra, said the driver of the pickup is the only person who could answer the family's unanswered questions.
"We want to know if the driver see Clint. This child came out of an accident and you hit this child. You didn't slow down, you did not look back and reverse to see if he was alive and rush him to the hospital," she cried.Rudy said Sookhan and three friends were returning home from a lime when he lost control of his car near the Caroni overpass.The car came to a stop in the median and they all exited the vehicle, including passenger Anoop Gajadhar, who made the report.
Rudy said Sookhan called his mother and told her about the accident, noting they would have to come and get him. He assured her that he was okay and alive."While he talking to Seeta, the phone went dead. We tried calling the number and did not get through," he said.Shortly after, Rudy said a friend was driving down the highway and recognised Sookhan's car and called the family and told them he was dead."I could not believe it. I did not believe that. I went to the scene myself," Rudy said.
He said Sookhan had learned to drive since he was eight, as he would reverse their car in the family's driveway."He controlled his car very good. He was a good driver and everybody came out the car alive, unhurt," Sandra said.Yesterday, relatives, especially Sookhan's mother, were inconsolable as they grieved for the teenager.Seeta moaned loudly and called for her son to come home as relatives supported her.
"He was my special child. They kill my son, they bounce him down and kill him. Clarence (Sookhan's father), I want my son, bring back my son," she cried.Sookhan's brother, Craig, 20, said his brother was loved by all and his mother was planning to buy him a new car.
Sandra said Sookhan always wanted to be a prisons officer and last week said he was going to repeat mathematics at CSEC level so he could join the prisons service.No funeral arrangements have been finalised.Investigations are continuing.