San Estevan Toddler Killed in Hit & Run Accident
Genesis Teresa Medina
There were several road traffic accidents over the weekend and there was loss of life in at least two instances. The life of one-year-old Genesis Teresa Medina was cut short in a tragic hit and run on Sunday. Just before five o’clock, the toddler was knocked down and killed by the driver of a pick-up truck who fled the scene. The Medina/Sandoval family of San Estevan, Orange Walk, is devastated by the untimely death of baby Genesis.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The two spots covered in sand on Calle Del Sol Street within the village of San Estevan, Orange Walk indicate where Genesis Teressa Medina, was hit and her body dragged almost one hundred yards to her death on Sunday afternoon as the family prepared to head to the river. The one year old girl, the only female of five children, had escaped from her dad, ran through the backdoor and on to the street. At the same time, a vehicle came speeding down the street, hitting the toddler just a few steps from the front door to her house.
Voice of: Amanda Sandoval, Cousin of Deceased
“We were supposed to have a happy get-together, family get-together by the river. So as soon as we reached there we were called about the news that our baby cousin was crashed and killed by a drunken man. The baby was taken care of really good by her parents. The baby was playing with her brothers and in the blink of an eye, her dad turned around and everything happened like lightning. The baby went out by the street in front of her house and the man drink so he took away the life of the baby.”
Supt. Selvyn Tillett, O.C., Orange Walk Police
“Orange Walk police visited the Cayo Del Sol Street in San Estevan Village, Orange Walk District, where they observed the body of a female infant lying motionless on the right hand side of the street. She was wearing a pink floral dress. The body had a large open fractured skull on the right side of forehead about four inches in length; she also had scrapes to her chest.”
Selvyn Tillett
The Orange Walk Police quickly got into operation and their investigation led to the discovery of a Mazda pickup, believed to have been the vehicle in the hit and run. The driver, twenty-eight year old Eliseo Israel Larios allegedly ditched the vehicle after hitting baby. Larios has been detained pending charges for manslaughter and other traffic offenses.
Supt. Selvyn Tillett
“A gold in color 1995 Mazda pickup fatally knocked down the little girl causing the injuries. About five-thirty that same day, the Orange Walk Police visited a feeder road between two cane fields about a mile off the Fresh Water Creek Road, south of San Estevan Village where they saw the said vehicle with license plate, OWA00637, about five yards inside the cane field. The driver of the truck, one Eliseo Israel Larios, a Belizean laborer of Trial Farm has since been detained pending charges.”
Reporter
“Was there any indication of alcohol consumption on the part of the driver?”
Supt. Selvyn Tillett
“We suspect, but we cannot determine that until the doctor decides that. But we suspect that he was under the influence.”
It’s an ordeal that will forever be etched in the minds of the family, especially her father, who after the incident, picked up the lifeless body of his daughter from the dirt road and carried her inside.
Voice of: Amanda Sandoval
“My uncle was there. He was devastated by the news, watching his little princess laying down on the road, in the middle of the road. So of course he took the baby because he doesn’t want his baby to be there laying down. So it was really sad because there was blood everywhere. She’s the youngest and the only girl and she was a very happy baby. She was always around. She was the love of her dad. Her dad always took good care of her and just yesterday, we don’t know how this happened. The family is devastated of course and they just need to find somewhere to hold on, to be strong; of course it will not be the same. She has her brothers whom she spends most of the time every day, and the parents are very hard working. They know what it is like to not have the baby present anymore.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
There is another traffic fatality in which the victim died just after three o’clock on Christmas morning. Mynor Cruz, a revenue collector from Belmopan was driving his motorcycle, when in the vicinity of Bella Vista near mile forty-three on the Southern Highway; he was hit by a Mazda pickup truck driven at the time by fifty-nine-year-old Celestino Coc, a farmer of Bella Vista Village. Cruz sustained numerous injuries, including a severed left arm and crushed left foot. He was taken to the Southern Regional Hospital and then transferred to the K.H.M.H. where he died later that day. Both vehicles were extensively damaged.
