IDENTIFY yourself and apologise.

This was the appeal made to the driver who knocked down security officer Lyston Whitehead on Saturday night and continued along the Beetham Highway, leaving him to die on the roadway.

In an interview with the Express at Whitehead's home at Haig Street, Carenage yesterday, Whitehead's family members asked that the driver do the honourable thing and give him/herself up.

"It is not nice for you to hit somebody and just leave them there and show no kind of sympathy. I would like if the driver will hand over himself to the police because God don't sleep. Give us some closure as to what happened that time," Whitehead's older sister Deanne said.

Also calling on the driver to step forward was Whitehead's employer Tommy Saroda, Director of Strike Force Security Ltd, where Whitehead was employed as a security guard for the past five years, securing the compound of Trinidad Fisheries in Sea Lots.

In a telephone interview with the Express, Saroda appealed to the driver: "Have a conscience. You should have rendered assistance. It could have happened to anybody and that is what the word accident means. It was not wilful but you could have shown some kind of compassion."

Saroda said if his pleas for a walkover to be built in the area had been considered, Whitehead, who was a corporal at the security firm, would have been alive today.

He said he had continuously asked businesses in the area to assist in constructing a walkover but no one listened. He added that he plans to write the businessmen again seeking to have a walkover constructed and will forward a copy of the letter to the relevant authorities.

"There are a lot of business in that area who make a lot of money in that area and there are people who contribute to business crossing that very said highway from time to time to do business there," Saroda said, adding that the businessmen should not wait for the Government to assist.

Saroda's sentiments were endorsed by Whitehead's father, Donald Whitehead, who said there was talk of a walkover being built in the area sometime ago.

According to Whitehead's father almost every year someone dies crossing that area and it was time that a walkover is built.

At the family's home, Deanne said her younger brother died one day after their mother, Lystra Whitehead celebrated her 63rd birthday. Deanne said her mother left for a short vacation in the United States, which has now been marred with the death of her son.

She added that both were close and anytime he wanted something he would go to her and she would have gotten it for him.

The last thing he requested was a pair of Nike Airmax sneakers.

Whitehead's mother will return to the country tomorrow before funeral arrangements are made.

Whitehead who earned the nickname "Tonto" for his childhood love of the movie The Lone Ranger was described by both family and Saroda as a hardworking man.

The 37-year-old suffered broken legs and arms as well as scratches on the face, his family said.

Family members said Whitehead had a smirk on his face when they identified his body, which was unusual for him as he was always serious. Whitehead's death pushed the toll to 100 for the number of people killed in motor vehicle accidents, according to an Express tally.

According to police reports Whitehead was attempting to cross the east bound lanes of the Beetham Highway just after 7 p.m. near the NP flyover when he was knocked down.

Officers of the Besson Street Police Station are investigating.