Police chief promises investigation of Sea Lots accident; PM calls it "horrifying tragedy"

Newsday photo of demonstration at Sea Lots

"It is really a horrifying tragedy. All we can say is that on our nation’s roads we need to be far more careful. I am advised again that an investigation will be undertaken into the circumstances surrounding the matter...a sensitive matter that will now come under police investigation and may or may not become a court matter. We will want to be prudent until we learn more of the facts surrounding the incident." PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar (Quoted in Newsday - Tuesday 26 Feb. 2013)

Acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) Stephen Williams promised the people of Sea Lots Port of Spain on Monday that there would be a thorough investigation into Sunday’s accident in which 28-year-old Haydee Paul and her two daughters, eight-year-old Akasha Paul and seven-year-old Shakira Paul, were killed.

Residents have been staging protests since the accident on Sunday, demanding fair treatment. The driver of the vehicle that killed the woman and her children is a police officer who was off duty at the time.

"We’d like to give you the assurance that there is no cover-up to any investigation involving all the events...One, the accident. Two, the response of the police officers to the accident,” Williams stated.

“I heard people speaking about the officer and whether he was drunk. He has been breath-tested...blood has been extracted from him for testing by the hospital,” Williams stated.