3 children dead in traffic mishaps

Three children have lost their lives in two separate traffic accidents over the weekend. On Saturday morning, six-year-old Samantha Jones of Esperanza was killed when she was hit by a pickup truck while attempting to cross the Western Highway. The driver, thirty-two year old Jose Guerra of Santa Elena, told police that as he was driving between miles seventy-one and seventy-two the child suddenly darted across the road and he was unable to avoid hitting her. Jones was pronounced dead on arrival at the San Ignacio Hospital. Guerra has been charged with manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct and driving without due care and attention.

On Saturday evening a collision between two vehicles on the Northern Highway resulted in the death of a one and five year old. The two children, Zaniany and Jorge Raul Briceño, were passengers in a pickup truck being driven by their father, twenty-seven year old Raul Briceño Jr. of Paraiso Village. According to the driver of an oil tanker truck, twenty-one year old Armin Gonzalez, he was driving between miles eighty-three and eighty-four when Briceño’s pickup drifted across the highway into his lane and collided head on into his truck. In addition to the two killed, Briceño, his wife and two other children in the vehicle received various injuries and were hospitalized. Urine samples were taken from both drivers to test for intoxication.