THE elderly driver of a Toyota Corolla motor car was killed yesterday and three people, including two female students, were injured when the vehicle ran out of control after exiting the Portmore toll road in the vicinity of the KFC store.

The dead man, believed to be in his late 70s, was identified as Hepburn Reid, a resident of Bridgeport in the municipality. The two injured girls are students of the Ascot High School in Greater Portmore. The other injured was a male passenger in the ill-fated Corolla.

A police spokesman told a radio programme yesterday that the constabulary received information that Reid was diabetic. This medical condition, a medical doctor told the Observer last night, could have caused a stroke, heart attack, or seizure while Reid was at the steering wheel.

According to the police, about 3:00 pm Reid was about to exit the toll road at Dawkins Drive when he lost control of the motor car. One alleged eyewitness said the vehicle ran onto the sidewalk where it knocked down a group of students who were on their way from school and then crashed into a metal pole and tore down a section of a chain-link fence.

The victims were rushed to hospital where the driver later succumbed to his injuries, while the students and the passenger of the vehicle were admitted.

“It happened so fast the I still shock; the vehicle just ran onto the sidewalk, knocked down the two girls and then crashed into a nearby wall,” said the eyewitness.

Scores of shocked onlookers who had gathered at the scene said firefighters had to cut the driver and another passenger from the mangled remains of the vehicle.

Yesterday, a man who identified himself as Byron Wallace expressed shock at the news and told the Observer that he had spoken to Reid hours before the accident. “Yes is me boss,” said the man, referring to Reid. “It was just this morning me a talk to him and he told me that he was not feeling so well,” said Wallace who said that he was carrying out construction work on a building for Reid.