PM mourns teen killed in garbage truck accident

Akash Sama­roo

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has ex­pressed con­do­lences fol­low­ing the trag­ic death of 19-year-old san­i­ta­tion work­er De­shawn Joseph, who died in a garbage truck ac­ci­dent in Kel­ly Vil­lage, Ca­roni, on Tues­day night.

In a state­ment is­sued this morn­ing, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said she was sad­dened by the young man’s death and ex­tend­ed sym­pa­thy to his griev­ing rel­a­tives and loved ones.

“I wish to ex­press my sin­cere con­do­lences to the loved ones of 19-year-old De­shawn Joseph, who trag­i­cal­ly lost his life in a freak ac­ci­dent on Tues­day night,” the Prime Min­is­ter said.

Po­lice said Joseph, of Spring­vale, Clax­ton Bay, ex­it­ed the garbage truck around 9.15 pm at Ra­goonath Street in Kel­ly Vil­lage and was col­lect­ing garbage.

He was walk­ing be­hind the ve­hi­cle when the dri­ver, who was re­vers­ing, struck him. Joseph fell and the truck rolled over him, killing him at the scene.

The Prime Min­is­ter re­flect­ed on the painful cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the teenag­er’s death, par­tic­u­lar­ly the fam­i­ly he leaves be­hind.

“He leaves be­hind a griev­ing fam­i­ly, in­clud­ing his girl­friend, who is four months preg­nant with their child,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said.

She de­scribed the tragedy as es­pe­cial­ly heart­break­ing giv­en that Joseph had been work­ing to sup­port his loved ones.

“It is tru­ly heart­break­ing that a young man went out to earn an hon­est liv­ing to care for his fam­i­ly and nev­er re­turned home,” she said.

The in­ci­dent sparked an out­pour­ing of sym­pa­thy on so­cial me­dia, with many ex­press­ing con­cern over the dan­gers faced by san­i­ta­tion work­ers and of­fer­ing con­do­lences to Joseph’s fam­i­ly.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar end­ed her mes­sage with prayers for com­fort and strength for those mourn­ing the loss.

“May his soul rest in eter­nal peace, and may God grant strength, com­fort and heal­ing to his loved ones dur­ing this painful time of grief,” she said.

In­ves­ti­ga­tions in­to the in­ci­dent are con­tin­u­ing.