Hero racked by nightmares over the woman he couldn’t save

Keith Nugent, one of two men who will be awarded the Badge of Honour for Gallantry (BH {G}) on Heroes Day for assisting with the rescue of four women after a motor vehicle accident on April 8 last year, still has nightmares about the one he could not save.

Nugent, speaking with The Gleaner, said it was with mixed emotions that he would accept the award from Governor General Sir Patrick Allen come October 16 on the lawns of King’s House.

According to him, one year later, it often replays in his mind how Patrisha Brown, a 58-year-old resident of Warner Street, Port Maria in St Mary, perished in the fire that engulfed the vehicle she was in and what he could have done differently to save her.

“I feel a sense of emptiness every time I think about it. I don’t think about the four that I pulled [out]. I think about the one that I wasn’t able to ... I often wonder, ‘Who she is? Who her family is?’ I just wish that the narrative was different and it was all five that were pulled from the vehicle,” said Nugent, who was driving to a funeral in Rowlandsfield, St Thomas that day with his wife and aunt.

“I won’t tell you that it’s not good to be recognised by my country, but it is with a sense of mixed emotions that I accept the award. I think very often about that lady and her family. If it has this effect on me, I can’t imagine them, so I think about them from time to time,” he said.

The April 2022 accident took place on Rowlandsfield main road. The driver of the motor vehicle lost control and the car turned over on its side.

Nugent recalled that, moments after the accident, he stopped at the scene where Ruel Grant, the other person who has been awarded the BH {G}, was standing.

“I went around a deep corner and, bam, there was a car on its side across the road. One side of the doors was on the road and the other side was up in the air. On the scene, I was a little startled. I pulled over and I noticed that there was another car and there was a guy against the car on his phone. He [Grant], immediately, after seeing me, started to scream, ‘Come and help! Come and help!’ and ran off towards the car, and I jumped out and ran behind him,” Nugent recalled.

They could only unlock the car’s back door that was facing the sky.

“We saw some ladies and we started to scream to them. They were all lying on each other and they started to move around, because they weren’t moving around when we were trying [to unlock the door],” he said.

Nugent recalled himself and Grant helping the first two women out of the car easily, but challenges started with the third, fourth and fifth passengers when the fire started.

“The fourth one was an older lady. She wasn’t able to help herself much, so, even though she stood up and we were telling her step up so that we could reach her, she wasn’t able to move her legs much. I guess it’s the shock and the age, so it took quite a while to get that one out, until the fire started to spread to the extent where I was leaning against the vehicle and I could now feel the heat on my stomach,” Nugent said.

Rested heavily on his mind

Even with the fire blazing and screams from his wife and aunt urging him to leave the side of the vehicle, it rested heavily on his mind to help the last person out.

“My hands were weak. My legs were weak. My stomach got some scorching and I also inhaled quite a bit of the smoke. At one point, I gave up. I closed the door and the lady standing there, trying to get out. Those who came out were running and screaming. They weren’t offering much help [because of the fire], so I figured it was time to run too. When I ran off, and I looked back at the vehicle and I remembered her standing there in the vehicle, I said, ‘Let me try one more shot’ and we went back; the lady who came out first, as well as Grant,” he said.

He recalled that she was not moving at one point, and they could not get access to her from the angle they pulled the other women out, so they eventually moved away and could only watch the fire blazing and an explosion of the car with the woman inside.

“I play the scenario over in my head several times to see what I could have done differently, to see if there was any way of saving her ... I second guess myself over and over, and think ‘Should I have done it this way? Should I have rolled the car and shake up the fuel and cause the explosion earlier? I think if I should have broken the glass nearer to the engine, but it would have led oxygen into the car, but I wanted to [be] as far away from where the fire is,” he said.

He said he tried to call the hospital the next day to contact the family, but was not successful in reaching them. Although much time has passed, he would like to meet them.

“I would definitely love to meet with them. I don’t think they know me and I don’t know them. I don’t think I would recognise them [if I were to see them now],” Nugent said.

“I do not know the individuals other than that [but] I saw reports as to who they were. The honest truth is, for about three months I’ve had nightmares because I wasn’t able to get the last person out,” he said.

‘IT WAS A WICKED SIGHT’

For Ruel Grant, April 8, 2022 is a date that will forever be etched on his memory.

Grant told The Gleaner on Friday, that he was driving to his house behind the car along Rowlandsfield main road before it overturned, and although he was not very close behind it, he knew something was wrong when he glimpsed it overturning way ahead of him.

“I backed up my car one side and rushed to the car, and when mi look, I peeped under the front of the car and in the engine room, a little fire started to blaze in the engine room and mi open di back door, and mi push it up in di air, but the force of it push it back down because of the weight, and mi push it back down again with more force and mi see some people,” Grant recalled.

He said it was not an easy task to rescue the four of five women inside the overturned motor car.

“Mi a tell yu seh it was a wicked sight, but mi still try fi save some a dem, so that was a little victory de so,” he said.

Eldest passenger

He will never forget the moment when the third woman was lifted out, as she was the eldest passenger, and innately, he was forced to behave aggressively with her to get her moving faster.

“She did kinda a move slowy. slowy. That time di fire a prap up more ennuh. Mi a tell yu, when mi go de, di front a di engine room have fire, and it tek time a come up, and mi bawl afta di woman and rough her and tell her fi push up bottom and hold her and pull her outa di car,” Grant told The Gleaner.

He said more persons eventually stopped at the scene and wanted to turn the car back on its wheels, but the fire prevented that.

“We just couldn’t manage to turn over the car, and there is nothing we coulda do. One youth all bruk di glass, and hold on pan di woman foot and a try draw her out, but she couldn’t come out because no space never deh deh fi she come out,” he sadly recalled before the car blazing with fire.

“That other lady that was left in the vehicle, we were unable to help her because she was very, very big and she was at the bottom on the vehicle, and it’s like she got pinned down in the vehicle, and the vehicle was on fire, so we had short time to do what we were trying to do,” he said.

Now that the nation will formally recognise him for his selfless act, he is very excited and appreciative.

“In terms of knowing that I was there and was able to save some people, I feel good in myself. I’m a God-fearing person, so I always try to do my best and as I can, and to as many people as long as I can, so in terms of that, me feel good!” Grant said.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com