St. Maarten Private Eye

Who Killed Martin Paredes? II

At 4am, Monday the 5th March 2007, 55 year old Martin Paredes was out on the street doing his job, picking up our stinky putrid garbage and throwing it into the back of the garbage truck. Maybe he saw the car's headlights coming towards him, but gave it little thought, not knowing that it would drive into the back of the truck, crushing his legs and ending his life.

But was it the car and the driver that killed Mr. Peredes? Or was it the 45 minute wait for the ONE working ambulance on the Dutch side, or was it the waiting for treatment at the St. Maarten Medical Center while his insurance was verified? A report on the SXM News Network tells us the the driver of the car, Geno Lawrenzi, may soon be in court over the accident. There are others who need to be up in front of that court too.

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Eyewitnesses reported that after the accident, Geno repeatedly begged the police officers at the scene to transport Martin to the medical center in their car, a trip of less than 10 minutes. At this time, Martin was not dead, his legs were broken and he had a gash that was bleeding profusely, it is unknown if he was conscious.

Were the police officers aware that the ONE ambulance on duty had gone to Oyster Pond and would be a long time coming? Why did they not put him in their car to take him there themselves? I refer you back to the 'Big Fish' story recently when a tourist was transported in a police car after the ambulance got stuck in the sand. Why did they not transport Martin Paredes? Did they not want blood in their car? Was it because he was just a Haitian garbage collector?

Moving on to the SMMC, it was reported that when Martin arrived there in the ambulance, approximately 1 hour after the accident, treatment was delayed because the hospital first wanted oconfirmation that he was insured One can only wonder what they would have done if he hadn't been insured, pushed him back out the door? Left him in a corner to die? Perhaps that is exactly what happened, while his insurance was confirmed.

While Geno Lawrenzi may well have been the cause of the accident that injured Martin Paredes, his death may well have been because he did not get treatment on time. If Geno is to go on the stand, then so must the Police officers who responded and the SMMC. This is not about going after them both on a witch hunt, this is about finding out why he died and to prevent such things happening in the future.

The SMMC MUST treat anyone with life threatening injuries arriving at their door, if has nothing to do with insurance and money, it has everything to do with morality and humanity, a cost that any society claiming to have either must accept.

There are many more questions that require answers. Why for instance was there only ONE ambulance working and on duty, is this not a scandal for an island of 45,000+ people and tourists? What do the crews of the broken down ambulances do? Can't they be given a rental car to at least respond to accidents and provide some assistance?

Was the 'big fish' tourist asked for his insurance papers before he recieved treatment? I hazzard a guess that he did not.

Dr. Voodoo

Previous post and news at link below.

Who killed Mr Martin Paredes?

Dr. Voodoo's blog | 22 comments | read more