RTA Claims Life of San Ignacio Carpenter
Esvin Damian
A San Ignacio resident is dead following a traffic accident in Belmopan. On Friday, thirty-year-old Esvin Damian drove from San Ignacio to Belmopan to conduct a business transaction for his furniture store. Later that day while driving on Constitution Drive towards the Hummingbird Highway he lost control of his vehicle. Damian’s Ford F-150 collided into a roundabout and thereafter flipped into a nearby ditch. He received multiple injuries to the body and died about half hour later at the scene of the accident. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
A road traffic accident in Belmopan claimed the life of a thirty-year-old carpenter from San Ignacio. On Friday night, Esvin Damian was driving is Ford-150 in the Capital City when he lost control of the pickup truck at a roundabout. Police confirmed these reports.
Hilberto Romero
ACP Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division
“Police responded to reports of a fatal road traffic accident by the Blue Moon area in Belmopan. Upon arrival they saw a 150 pickup overturned and they saw the lifeless body of Esvin Damian, thirty years, inside the vehicle. Information was the deceased was driving that vehicle when he lost control and succumbed to his injuries.”
Police are awaiting the results of a postmortem examination to determine whether alcohol was a factor in this fatal accident. Police say that they have received information to suggest that Damian was stopped at a checkpoint and given the ok to proceed, before the accident occurred. They are, however, looking to verify that information. Jamaal Avilez, an eyewitness, spoke about what he saw.
Jamaal Avilez
Jamaal Avilez, Eyewitness
“I was coming out of Belmopan by the roundabout here and as I cross the speed bump this black F-150 over there, he came and passed beside me, he knocked out this first stone, he flipped over the other side and he flipped over to the way on the other side of the roundabout. He came in a ball of speed. I stepped out to render assistance, but luckily the police was right near to control the scene, like second behind, because they had just left out of one of the club establishments so they were right nearby. So they called the hospital and I called the hospital and we had to wait until the medic arrived. I would have wanted to render assistance because I am an EMT, but due to the nature of the situation, police never want I do anything.”
Avilez referred to the accident as a near-death experience. He says if Damian would have swerved only an inch more to the right, he would have also lost control of his vehicle.
Jamaal Avilez
“This man literally passed inches next to me, if he was anymore close I would have been clipped and be a part of this whole scenario right here mien. It is a near death experience, but thank god I am alive.”
Damian was a carpenter. He owned a furniture store in San Ignacio; we spoke with his wife who told us that she wants to remember her husband as the jovial, upbeat and hardworking individual that he was. She says the family remains in shock with more questions than answers. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez
