And about an hour and half after Jahston Terry lost his life in Belize City, 75 year-old Gregory Leon Lopez lost his life between mile 6 and mile 7 on the Northern Highway in Ladyville. The elderly man was riding his bicycle from Ladyville to Belize City when he was knocked down from behind by Eldon Daniel Hendy of Isabella Bank, who was driving his Dodge Ram heading toward Belize City.
2 fatalities in 2 hours, and today, his family spoke to 7News, and they too were angry with his demise. They told us that Lopez, who was very fit for his age, rode from village to village visiting his family members. They told us that they are waiting for police to determine if the driver of the vehicle was negligent:
Carla Sainsbury, Daughter of Deceased
"I found out this afternoon that he was knocked down at mile 6 on the Northern Highway and he didn't die on the spot. They brought him to the hospital and he died like an hour and a half after."
Reporter
"Do you know what injuries he sustained?"
Carla Sainsbury, Daughter of Deceased
"It seems from what I saw like more head injuries to me and he has some stuff on his legs and stuff like that."
Reporter
"Has the driver contacted you?"
Carla Sainsbury, Daughter of Deceased
"No, I haven't heard from the driver. I only spoke to the police at Ladyville Police Station. I went up there and spoke to them."
Reporter
"Does your father normally ride bicycle at those hours?"
Carla Sainsbury, Daughter of Deceased
"Normally, I don't think so, but my nephew would be more the one to answer that."
Gregory Sainsbury, Grandson of Deceased
"There is one issue that we tend to have with him; he loves to ride his bike every day. He stayed with me actually and yesterday was the last time I saw him because he brought some food to eat and he said that he was coming back. Normally, he would ride to Hattieville to his other granddaughter and we always tell him not to go on the road, but he is a fit old man, so he just rides and unfortunately this happened to him."
Reporter
"He usually rides at that late hour?"
Gregory Sainsbury, Grandson of Deceased
"It varies, but he has all hours that he rides. But we didn't expect him to be at that point of time riding his bike."
Reporter
"What would be the last thing that he said to you?"
Gregory Sainsbury, Grandson of Deceased
"The last thing I could recall, because he normally wakes me up in the morning to go to work, he said 'its time to go to work' and I told him to take care."
Carla Sainsbury, Daughter of Deceased
"Sometimes with careless driving, somebody could lose their life. It might not be yours, it might be somebody else. I am not saying, in this case maybe it's a careless driver - I don't know who is in the right; my dad or the driver was in the wrong. I want to encourage drivers to drive for the other person; you have to look out for pedestrians because you can't just drive for drive sake. I want to encourage people to be more careful out here, even the people that rides bicycles."
Ladyville Police have served Eldon Hendy with a notice of intended prosecution.
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