A Senior Superintendent of the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) has been charged in connection with a road traffic accident.
Suzette Martin was charged by way of summons, on Wednesday, with dangerous driving in connection with an incident on the Priority Bus Route (PBR) on April 18 this year, in which she allegedly struck a 14-year-old schoolboy while he was crossing the PBR near the Croisee in San Juan.
The charge was laid by ACP Wayne Mystar of Specialised Support .
Martin is to appear before a Port of Spain magistrate on October 27 to answer the charge.
Instructions to lay the charge were given by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Anju Bhola late last week, according to senior police sources who said the decision was made after a file was submitted to the DPP’s office by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) on September 21 this year.
On April 18, around 8.30 a.m., Martin was driving east on the PBR in a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV, an unmarked police car. The youngster, who was on his way to school, was allegedly struck while crossing near the Croisee and suffered fractures to his feet. The PCA compiled the file after obtaining CCTV footage of the collision and enlisting the help of numerous witnesses on the scene.
The report recommended disciplinary and criminal charges be laid against Martin.
Martin, who was abroad, returned on Wednesday on a United Airlines flight from Houston, Texas, USA, and was then served the charge by summons.
Martin was one of three officers involved in the arrest of Brent Thomas in Barbados, which was criticised by Justice Devindra Rampersad in a judgment handed down in late April this year.
Justice Rampersad described the incident as a “shameful blot on this country”, and asked on whose authority were ASP Birch, Snr Supt Martin and Cpl Joefield allowed to use a Defence Force aircraft in what the judge called an “international abduction”.