The State has accepted liability for a 48-year-old police officer, who lost his right arm in a car accident in 2015.
In July, last year, Sharaj Mohammed, of Beckles Street in Tacarigua, filed the negligence claim against the Office of the Attorney General over the incident, which occurred at Josam Hill in Laventille on September 1, 2015.
When the case came up for hearing before Justice Frank Seepersad almost two weeks ago, the parties entered a consent order, in which the AG’s Office accepted liability.
Seepersad then ordered that a High Court Master assess the compensation which should be paid to Mohammed, on a date to be set by the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
According to his statement of the case, Mohammed, who has 17 years’ service, claimed that he was at the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) base when he and a colleague received instructions to provide mobile escort service for a construction company seeking to move heavy equipment to its temporary base along the Lady Young Road in Morvant.
While driving up a hill, the car lost power and began to roll downhill. Mohammed allegedly applied the foot brake but the vehicle began to skid on gravel on the road.
Mohammed disengaged the foot brake and applied the hand brake but the vehicle continued to roll back at a faster rate.
The vehicle eventually tipped over pinning Mohammed’s arm underneath.
Mohammed spent over five weeks at hospital before he agreed to have the arm amputated at the elbow as opposed to undergoing further reconstructive surgery, that still would not have guaranteed future use of his injured limb and may still have led to an amputation.
In his lawsuit, Mohammed’s lawyers Anand Ramlogan, SC, Alana Rambaran, and Douglas Bayley claimed that the TTPS and by extension the State, were liable for the injuries as it had failed to provide him with a properly functioning vehicle.
Through the lawsuit, Mohammed, who remains on extended sick leave since the incident, is seeking compensation for his future loss of earnings and for the pain and suffering he was forced to endure.
Mohammed is also seeking over $600,000 for a prosthetic arm as he claims that he will have to fly to the United States (US) to be fitted and trained to use it.