ESTATE Constable Lennox Samson, the Amalgamated prisons transport officer who died after sustaining injuries from the shocking smash-up two weeks ago, was a diabetic.

A close friend of the deceased revealed that Samson got a blackout, mere minutes before the accident.

This was the reason for him losing control of the van and crashing while transporting 25 prisoners along the Uriah Butler Highway.

His friend said that because Samson’s sugar levels were low he went into “hypo” while driving.

One diabetic told TnT Mirror a hypo is a condition that sometimes occurs in some diabetic persons soon after taking insulin.

Sometimes the insulin causes their sugar levels to drop too low, causing somewhat fatal reactions.

Some symptoms of hypo are: “Sweating plenty, light-headedness, weak feeling and trembling.

“If the diabetic does not eat while feeling this way, they could blackout -- as happened to Samson on that fatal day.

“Once they blackout they could easily slip into a coma and die.

“If they come out of the coma, they can become brain damaged due to other complications.”

His close friend revealed that on his dying bed he said: “I don’t know what happened to me that night.

“I just blacked out and that was it.”

Sixty-three-year-old Samson succumbed to his injuries on October 29, two days after the smash-up on the highway.

He had been employed as an Amalgamated Prisons Transport officer for six years.