Engineering student killed as delivery truck rams motorcycle along Katipunan Ave.

A traffic enforcer directs traffic in Katipunan Ave. in Quezon city. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — An engineering student was killed after he was hit by and crushed beneath the wheels of a delivery truck Tuesday night in Quezon City.

Ariel delos Santos, 22, a 4th year student of the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP), was driving his motorcycle home to Barangay (village) Batasan Hills when a delivery truck of the recycling company Carpel Environment Corp. hit him from behind.

Delos Santos was wearing a helmet and was driving on the motorcycle lane when the crash happened.

Senior Inspector Erlito Renegin, head of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) traffic sector in Camp Karingal, said that the accident happened at around 9 p.m., Tuesday, along the northbound lane of Katipunan Avenue, Barangay Loyola Heights, in front of Miriam College.

Renegin said that Delos Santos was on his Rusi motorcycle (3138-QC), inside the lane designated for motorcycles, when the delivery truck (RIM-830) driven by 34-year-old Edmar Luna struck him from behind.

The impact sent Delos Santos stumbling and falling right on the truck’s path. The wheels of the vehicle run over the fallen college student who was instantly killed.

Renegin said that Luna, who was taken into custody, had claimed that he was making a delivery of used carton boxes from Taguig City to Novaliches in Quezon City when the accident happened. The driver alleged that another vehicle had hit the motorcycle, which sent it flying to his direction.

But the QCPD traffic sector chief said that the traffic investigator, PO3 Renato Sunga, had found that apart from the motorcycle and the delivery truck, no other vehicle had been involved in the mishap.

Luna remains in the custody of the traffic sector and could be charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide at the city prosecutor’s office should Delos Santos’ family decide to pursue a case against him.