Rad­hi­ca de Sil­va 

A day af­ter a mu­sic truck killed San Fer­nan­do res­i­dent and flag bear­er Sel­wyn Lit­tle dur­ing Car­ni­val Mon­day cel­e­bra­tions, Mon Re­pos/Navet Coun­cil­lor Nigel Cout­ti­er ex­pressed sor­row over the in­ci­dent.

In a state­ment, Cout­ti­er de­scribed Lit­tle, al­so known as ‘Short Man,’ as a well-loved fig­ure. Lit­tle, 74, car­ried the flag for Jam­merz In­ter­na­tion­al, a sailor band, and de­spite his age, he ac­tive­ly par­tic­i­pat­ed in the fes­tiv­i­ties.

Cout­ti­er said the tragedy has af­fect­ed not on­ly Lit­tle's fam­i­ly, friends, and loved ones but al­so the en­tire city.

He said Lit­tle was well known dur­ing Car­ni­val.

“His pres­ence dur­ing this time of the year was al­ways up­lift­ing,” Cout­ti­er said. “He played a piv­otal role in mak­ing our Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions what they are. His spir­it, warmth, and ded­i­ca­tion will be great­ly missed by all who knew him," he added.

Cout­ti­er al­so not­ed that the com­mu­ni­ty is strug­gling to process the loss. “As we come to terms with this, my thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones and the en­tire Car­ni­val com­mu­ni­ty,” he said. “We stand to­geth­er in mourn­ing, but we al­so hold on to the many fond mem­o­ries.”

On Mon­day, ACP Wayne Mys­tar said po­lice re­ceived re­ports that the truck’s brakes failed, caus­ing the ac­ci­dent on Cipero Street.

Mys­tar al­so con­firmed that au­thor­i­ties had is­sued a pass for the ve­hi­cle.

"The li­cens­ing of­fice will have to do in­spec­tions to check the brakes," he ex­plained.

Mys­tar urged band­lead­ers to take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for en­sur­ing ve­hi­cles are road­wor­thy. “The own­ers of the bands must en­sure that all trucks have the nec­es­sary safe­ty mech­a­nisms,” he said. “In­spec­tion will con­tin­ue over Car­ni­val.”

Six­teen bands are ex­pect­ed to cross the stage on Car­ni­val Tues­day.