
1 killed, 1 hurt after drunk driver hits 10 vehicles in Cabanatuan
CABANATUAN CITY – Police on Friday night arrested an alleged drunk driver of a Nissan Navara pickup truck who tried to escape after he allegedly sideswiped 10 vehicles along Maharlika Highway in this city that left a tricycle driver dead and another motorist wounded .
The incident happened on Maharlika Highway in barangays Hermogenes Concepcion Sr. and Sumacab Este at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
Victimized by the hit-and-run were 10 vehicles, mostly cars and motorcycles.
According to Nueva Ecija top cop Col. Ferdinand D. Germino, the pickup truck was traveling southbound when it initially collided with a Yamaha tricycle driven by a 53-year-old driver in Bgy. H. Concepcion.
The trike driver, who sustained severe injuries, was pronounced dead-on-arrival at the Dr. Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center.
The injured was a 41-year-old motorist, of Bgy. Bayanihan, Gapan City.
Germino said the suspect, a 45-year-old resident of Bgy. Castellano, San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija, sideswiped several other vehicles along the highway in his hurried attempt to flee the scene of the accident.
He was again flagged down at a 24/7 checkpoint along the highway in Bgy. Sumacab Este but he refused to stop and tried to escape anew.
Germino said the fleeing suspect, believed to be intoxicated, was eventually cornered and nabbed when his vehicle rammed a concrete footbridge in the said barangay.
He said the suspect was immediately placed under custody and subjected to medical and alcohol testing.
Charges for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, physical injury, and damage to property are being prepared for inquest-filing against the suspect before the Cabanatuan City Prosecutor’s Office.