A Deadly Crash in Roaring Creek; Francisco Polanco Perishes
Francisco Polanco
Two friends were returning home on motorcycle when they were involved in a deadly collision with another motorcycle on the George Price Highway. Francisco Polanco perished when he crashed into another motorcycle, driven at the time by twenty-eight-year-old Camalote resident, Raul Garcia near the Westar Gas Station. From his hospital bed, Jeffery Thompson tells News Five’s Duane Moody that the other motorbike didn’t use any signal light. That driver is also hospitalized.
Duane Moody, Reporting
After seven p.m. on Sunday night, an outing by two friends from Roaring Creek turned deadly when two motorcycles collided on the George Price Highway. Francisco Polanco and Jeffrey Thompson met up just after five p.m. and were socializing before they decided to head home. Thompson says he had a few drinks and opted for Polanco, who was not drinking, to drive him home on motorcycle. But as they neared the Westar Gas Station in Roaring Creek, another motorcycle would collide with them. Thompson recounts the accident from his hospital bed at the Western Regional.
Jeffrey Thompson
Jeffrey Thompson, Accident Victim
“I mi di come from roaring Creek going to Westar Gas Station and while coming, I see this cycle on the roadside like ih want come out. But this person no put on any indicator or nothing to show weh part ih gwen. And he just take off and when ih take off dah just straight in front of me and the young bwai and we collided straight into he. He know exactly weh mi di happen. Like weh I di say, I mi di drink, so I give over the steering wheel to him, like how he neva mi di drink because I know caution better than cure. So I give him the steering wheel fi try make I could reach home neva know say this guy mi wah do something stupid like that. And we just end up di collide up into he.”
The impact sent all three persons to the pavement. Thompson suffered head and bodily injuries but survived, while the rider of the other cycle, Raul Garcia, was badly injured and rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in a critical condition.
Jeffrey Thompson
“They say I wah make it, but right now I got blood di pour through my nose every time I sit down up. I got my whole knee scrape up, my big toe, the toenail jump off. I got wah scrape ina my shoulder piece; my two shoulder dehn di hurt me bad.”
Duane Moody
“But dehn say yo wah recover right?”
Jeffrey Thompson
“Yeah, yeah. Correct. I wah recover; dah just timings.”
Unfortunately, twenty-four-year-old Polanco, a Valley of Peace resident, suffered severe head injuries and died on the spot. His aunt with whom he lived in Roaring Creek says she was alerted of the incident minutes later. Juanita Guzman heard the ambulance wailing on the highway, but never thought that her nephew was the victim of the fatal RTA.
Juanita Guzman
Juanita Guzman, Aunt of Deceased
“I noh really know weh happen, but I know ih left home like around five from my house and ih gone with my next friend and when I hear the ambulance, I di figure well dah who mussi get ina accident. So when somebody come and tell we that somebody get ina accident by Gallardo so my husband gone and when ih check, ih see dah…well we call ahn Abi, but ih name Francisco Polanco. And ih come back and we gone and I just see ahn pan the road dead.”
Guzman says that just recently Polanco moved to Roaring Creek with them after his father passed away last September. While it is a trying time for the family because it is the third death in four months, Guzman says her nephew will be remembered as a loving person.
Juanita Guzman
“Ina September ih pa dead and from ih come for the wake and funeral ih stay right dah my house. Well, you know I dah somebody weh always help people so anybody come and they stay there and that dah weh happen. Every morning when I get up, he sleep ina wah room right by the kitchen and ih get up and say, Auntie yo cold noh? Ih say ih cold last night noh chu? I say yeah ih cold, but I noh cold. Ih say you always say ih noh cold. That dah what I wah could always remember when I get up dah morning…those were the words that ih usually tell me.”
Jeffrey Thompson
“Ih neva make it neither mien. I wah miss the man dearly mien. I di be real.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
Both Thompson and Garcia have since been served with notices of intended prosecution. Francisco Polanco was the brother of Andrea, our colleague and reporter here at News Five. Our condolences to the family on their third loss in the past four months.
