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DR man held in Maxwell Smith's death discharged pending investigation
“Police are still actively investigating the accident,” she added.
The DR man was the driver of the other vehicle that was involved in the accident on Sunday January 8, 2012, which caused the vehicle Smith was driving to topple into the sea at Freshwater Pond, West End.
The former businessman and a third district candidate with the United Party (UP) was pronounced dead at Peebles Hospital after being rushed there in a reportedly unconscious state.
According to persons, who were on the scene, the accident occurred sometime around 6:30 p.m. It is still not clear how it occurred, however, from all indications the vehicle that Smith, a former police officer, was in was headed east when it collided with a rental pickup bearing number plate RT 0732 that was heading in the opposite direction before toppling into the sea.
Persons reportedly responded quickly to rescue Smith’s wife and his son Travis Smith but the now deceased was trapped in the vehicle for several minutes with his face underwater before he was finally taken out.
According to a man, who was reportedly the first to respond to the assistance of the persons in the vehicle that ended up in the sea, he was in his yard when he heard two loud sounds and upon looking around saw a vehicle toppling into the sea. The man, who wished to remain unnamed, told Virgin Islands News Online that he rushed to the scene and jumped into the water to rescue the occupants of the car.
He said he pulled a woman from the vehicle and a young man emerged unassisted, however, the woman indicated that her husband was also in the vehicle.By that time the man said other persons had arrived and together they tried to rescue Smith but encountered some difficulty. “He was a big fellow and we were unable to free him easily. His head was face down in the water and when I tried to lift it up for him to get air I could not because of how he was positioned in the vehicle.”
The man said more than eight minutes had expired before they were finally able to rescue him.
Among the other persons, who joined in the rescue efforts were Seddis Matthias and Trevon Matthias. Seddis related to Virgin Islands News Online that she was in her house when she heard a first sound that gave her the impression that it was a gunshot and was about to shut the door to her apartment when she heard another that sounded differently.
“I ran out of the house to see what it was and saw the Indian man upstairs already in the water and then I jumped in with him. I was trying to get the man out of the vehicle but then we see the son and the wife and she say the husband in the vehicle so I bawling now for help and when I bawling now for help people stopping along all the time and jump in the water and help us. It had about 20 persons trying to push off the vehicle because the husband was face down in the water and we were trying to free him but we couldn’t get the vehicle to move because it was so heavy so I small now so I got the door open and I went in the vehicle and tried to push him out and persons tried pulling at the same time and that was how we got him out,” Seddis Matthias recounted.
She added that the man was lifted to land at which time she ran inside her house for a couple of sheets on which he was placed and the man’s wife, who is reportedly a nurse, began to perform CPR on him. She said the man appeared to have already stopped breathing but seemed to have started breathing again after CPR was performed. She noted that he was frothing a lot.
During the ordeal, Seddis injured one of her fingers and suffered cuts at the bottom of her feet but said she was just concerned about rescuing the victims. “I was there calling for help and even crying because I was afraid. It could have been me because I does drive too and I know him (Maxwell Smith) a long time too, we were friends for years.”
Smith was taken to hospital by ambulance.
The driver of the other vehicle appeared to be in a state of shock at the incident. He was not injured and the vehicle appeared to have suffered minor frontal damage, including a punctured tyre.
Meanwhile, the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) in a press release issued last evening said it was investigating the circumstances surrounding an accident which led to the first traffic fatality in the Virgin Islands for 2012.
“Police attended the scene of the accident where a vehicle was found in the waters adjacent to the West End Public Road. Two of the three occupants of the vehicle escaped however the driver was rushed to Peebles Hospital and later died. The deceased, Maxwell Smith of Sea Cow’s Bay, was pronounced dead around 8 p.m.,” the press release stated.
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