2 Die in Separate RTAs

Miguel Angel Cruz

The loss of life started on Friday night. Shortly after eight o’clock, Miguel Angel Cruz was killed in a traffic accident just two miles from where he lived in the Hattieville community. His lifeless body was found at mile thirteen on the George Price Highway beside his bicycle. Cruz was hit by a car driven by thirty-eight year old Marlon Estevan Hernandez. Hernandez claims Cruz was riding on the middle of the highway and even as he attempted, he could not avoid hitting him. Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

This extensively damaged bicycle and Toyota Corolla car are the telltale signs that something went awfully wrong on Friday night at mile thirteen on the George Price Highway. Around eight p.m., the car driven at the time by Marlon Hernandez of Hattieville crashed into the back of the bicycle ridden by fifty year old Miguel Angel Cruz. The accident occurred just past the Eternal Memorial Cemetery cutoff on the highway; the impact sent Cruz to the pavement; he died on the spot.

Maria Calderon

Maria Calderon, Landlady

“He went to sleep all day, he got up around four in the evening and he said he was going to check his lines for fishing and he went. And then about after eight going on to nine, somebody come tell me that he got knocked down by thirteen miles and he was dead on the spot. But I didn’t view the body, but as weh I went to see afterwards and where he was, he was on the side of the road and he was on the right hand where he should be. His bicycle was so mashed. Well I hadn’t seen the body as yet, but I send someone to check and identify him because I couldn’t left from here the night, but from what I understand, he is properly broken up. He got knocked and they run over him. It was so cruel the way he died and I think he didn’t deserve to die that way.”

Police arrived shortly after to find Cruz face down in a pool of blood, dead. Thirty-eight year old Hernandez has since been served with a notice of intended prosecution, pending the results of a post mortem examination.

Edward Broaster

Sr. Supt. Edward Broaster, Rural Regional Commander, Eastern Division

“He was riding his bicycle, he was wearing dark clothing and apparently the driver of the vehicle who hit him was driving and a vehicle came with high beam where after he passed the vehicle, he saw Mister Cruz and was unable to avoid him, knocking him down off his bicycle.”

According to Calderon, Cruz was always on the road and had been traveling along that highway for the past eight years.

Maria Calderon

“Yes, he was always on the road, but he always said I am careful because he always had his lanterns; it was on, on the road the night.  He had reflectors on the back of the bicycle and the front had a reflector and I think he had one on the middle. So it was three that he had and he had a bell on the bike. So I don’t think that had to pass unseen to anybody. I think that the person that was driving was either driving too fast or under the influence of alcohol.”

Rochelle Chan

Insp. Rochelle Chan, O.C., Hattieville Police

“Indications may be that it can be that speeding is involved. It is a highway, but nevertheless, you must remember the speed limits within the residential area and the highway curtails a lot in residential area. So motorists must be cognizant of their driving and their speed.”

Cruz was killed two weeks before his fifty-first birthday, which was on August eighth. Duane Moody for News Five.

There was another traffic fatality which occurred on Saturday night in San Roman Village in the Corozal District. A Ford Pickup driven by nineteen year old Juan Gutierrez overturned and he was thrown out of the vehicle. Gutierrez died instantly, but a sixteen year old passenger was injured and survived the incident, which occurred on a dirt road not far from the Phillip Goldson Highway.