Despite helmet, man dies in bus collision http://www.mid-day.com/news/city/2005/may/110463.htm
Russel Madeira (21), a call centre executive with Intelenet, was run over by a BEST bus near Mittal Industrial Estate at Sakinaka on Saturday. The bus driver was arrested by the Sahar police, but is currently on bail. The accident took place allegedly due to the driver’s rash driving. Though Russel was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, it flew off at the impact of the bus hitting him, and his head was smashed against the pavement. His helmet and bike were undamaged and are with the Sahar police at the moment. How it happened Russel was on his way to meet his friends at 6.30 pm when the accident took place at the Shiv Shakti Marg, Sakinaka. Witnesses say that the BEST bus, no 22, hit his two-wheeler from the back. “The bus hit him so hard that he flew off his bike, his helmet came off and he was thrown on the divider. His bike skid and landed 10 feet away. As his head hit the divider, we saw blood splattering all round,” said eyewitness, Habib-ur-Rehman. ‘I knew he was dead’ “It was totally the fault of the bus driver. He was rash, was driving too fast, and hit the bike very hard. I saw the body as the public tried lifting it and I knew he was already dead,” says Ahmed, an eye-witness who sits at the Sai Baba Mandir, right next to the accident spot. The bus driver, Vasant Sawant (42), was apparently beaten up by the passengers. Says an eyewitness, who did not want to be named, “Usually, passengers do not beat up the driver, but take his side. Here it was very clear that the driver was negligent, so he got thrashed, before being arrested by the police.” ‘He was our only son’ Russel’s distraught father, Eugene Madeira said, “He was our only son. We cannot get him back even if we hurt the driver. But I would like to meet him, and I will fight this case for our son.” Russel got weekends off and usually spent it with his friends. His father said, “He was previously working with a Wipro call centre at Powai and missed his friends from that office, but visited them often. In fact, he was on his way to meet them to get them to go to Goa with us on June 2. I had even booked the tickets.” Forwarded by Eddie Verdes
