Having sustained what would prove to be fatal injuries in a collision with a truck, a La Brea man’s only concern as he lay trapped in the mangled wreck of his vehicle was that his wife be taken to safety.
Krishna Soodeen and his wife, Jesse, were critically injured on Monday when their 24-seater maxi taxi in which they were travelling collided head-on with a truck transporting chemicals in Guapo.
“They’re taking too long,” were Soodeen’s last words. He died as rescue teams were trying to free his crushed legs which were pinned by the maxi taxi’s engine.
Police said that Soodeen, 68, of Southern Main Road, Vessigny was transporting ten passengers to San Fernando around 3.20 pm, and while travelling along the “KTO stretch,” near the Guapo Police Station, he collided with an oncoming truck.
Police said a vehicle, had allegedly, moments before, overtaken the maxi taxi and forced the truck driver to take evasive action.
Soodeen suffered injuries to his head. His wife suffered a broken hip, fractured ribs and head injuries. She, along with two other passengers, was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where she was warded in a stable condition but sedated.
At the San Fernando mortuary yesterday, Soodeen’s son, Vijay, said Jesse was conscious, but might have to undergo surgery on her hip. Soodeen’s son-in-law, Pradeep Bachan, said because Jesse underwent heart surgery two years ago, she was not told that her husband had died.
“I went to pick up my son from school at Grant Memorial Presbyterian and while coming home, I got a phone call from my sister-in-law indicating that dad got in an accident. It took me about 45 minutes to get to the scene of the accident and Vijay was already there. When I got there, medics, police and fire brigade were on the scene and they had already removed the truck from inside the maxi.
“Vijay was consoling mom and dad and when he stepped out of the bus, I stepped in and assisted the officers with getting mom out of the seat that she was in and we took her to the ambulance. I went back in and dad was talking, saying that he did not know what the truck driver was doing and he had indicated to us to see about mom first. Then he said they were taking too long. Those were his last words,” Bachan said.
Police said they took statements from the truck driver and the other driver involved in the accident and intended to interview other witnesses.