Roland Allen is still locked up for unrelated offences, but during the opening of the October Assizes on Tuesday, prosecutors dropped charges against him for having allegedly caused the death of an American tourist by reckless driving.
He has pleaded not guilty to the offence in May. On February 23, 2010, Mr. Allen was driving a tour bus that carried 20 passengers down Windy Hill Road. As the vehicle neared the intersection leading to Cane Garden Bay at around 9:30 a.m., the bus veered off the road, hit an embankment and flipped onto its side. Aaron Rumphrey, a 24-year-old cruise ship tourist from New York, was killed in the accident when he was thrown from the bus and pinned beneath it. Six other passengers were treated at Peebles Hospital and released.
Prior to dropping the case, prosecutors had maintained that Mr. Allen’s driving caused the crash.
“We are claiming that his driving was reckless because he going at speed at which he was unable to control the vehicle,” Candace Raphael-DeJongh, a former senior Crown counsel, said on March 2, 2010.
Although he didn’t give an explanation in court, Senior Crown Counsel Valston Graham said Tuesday that the Crown had filed a notice of discontinuation regarding the case and Mr. Allen was discharged.
See the Oct. 11, 2012 edition for full coverage.