The family of accident victim Adolphus “Ricky” Martinez, yesterday begged the authorities to ensure that justice was brought to bear in the fatality.
The 58-year-old of Northeastern Settlement, Sangre Grande, was struck by a car around 7.45 pm on Sunday as he was walking along Ojoe Road.
Martinez was said to have been headed home when the 42-year-old driver also of Northeastern Settlement, who was alleged to be under the influence of alcohol, ran into him.
Speaking with reporters at the Forensic Science Centre, St James – former Prisons Commissioner Martin Winston Martinez remembered his nephew as, “A decent young man.”
He said the victim who had been unmarried, was, “Always willing to help anybody.”
Other relatives described Martinez as, “A quiet person...humble.”
A female relative said that her last interaction with Martinez was urging him to return home with the groceries she had purchased for him.
Wiping away the tears, she continued, “Whilst he was walking home, the car bounced him.
“The driver come out and start cussing, calling him a mad man.”
She recalled watching Martinez lying at the side of the road with a broken hand and a mangled foot, she said, “I start to cry, watching him like that.”
Saddened that the driver had kept referring to her loved one as a mad man, another relative added, “We crying out for justice for our family.”
Already upset over claims that the driver has family members employed with the T&T Police Service (TTPS) and fearful this accident could be dismissed, Martinez’s relatives said, “He was somebody’s son, brother, uncle, nephew...and we want justice for his death.”
