Wife explains scooter rider’s ordeal

By Davion Smith, BVI News Online Staff

Family members of the scooter rider, who was airlifted to the United States after he sustained serious injuries in an accident, said their loved one is recovering well although he is still being fed from a tube at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida.

His name is Chris Herring, a native of the United States.

He does not remember the ill-fated event on Anegada that landed him in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), BVI News Online was told yesterday, April 20.

“He has all of the memories of his life; he just doesn’t remember the accident,” said Casey Herring, the crash victim’s daughter.

She continued: “He is doing really good. He is in ICU right now, but he is just restless. He is on pain medication right now, and has a feeding tube up his nose. He can get all the nutrients and stuff. He’s awake and talking. He just wants to get out of the bed.”

Mr Herring, who was in the British Virgin Islands on an employment mission, is said to have suffered injuries mostly to the left side of his body.

He sustained what Casey described as ‘bad’ bruises to the left side of his face, as well as ‘minor fractures’.

She stated that doctors were worried that Mr Herring may have sustained brain injuries, but their fears were later allayed.

I saw everything

The accident happened about 11am last week Friday, April 14. At that time, Mr Herring and his stepson were scooter-riding in the vicinity of Big Bamboo bar, Anegada.

His wife Tiffany Conroy was also present at the time, but she was driving behind them in a motor vehicle.

The wife said she saw the entire ordeal unfold.

“The front tyre of the scooter just went off the side of the road, and he (Mr Herring) tried to over-correct it; I think too fast. When he turned it back up to go on the road, that’s when the scooter and him slipped together, and then he rolled and flipped again onto the rocks,” added Conroy, who said her husband was wearing a helmet, but it fell off during the accident.

He started to bleed, she recalled.

Conroy said she instructed her son to stay with her husband and ‘stop the bleeding’ while she drove away to get help.
She met some Good Samaritans who called the ambulance.

Conroy then chartered an aircraft to take her injured husband from Anegada to Peebles hospital on Tortola.

Mr Herring was then airlifted to the US-based Jackson Memorial Hospital.

His relatives are hopeful that he will be out soon.