The driver of the passenger bus that ran over and killed a pedestrian in Manila on Wednesday morning was charged Thursday before the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office.
Members of the Manila Police District’s Traffic Enforcement Unit tracked down Richard Enero, 41, the driver of the Earth Star Express Bus, which hit Rolando Roldan as he was crossing the road, eight hours after the accident on Padre Bugos Avenue near Plaza Lawton.
Enero was arrested at his quarters in the bus company’s garage on Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City.
He was subsequently charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, multiple physical injuries and multiple damage to property.
Case investigator Senior Police Officer 3 Sergio Macaraeg said that Enero told him that he fled from the scene of the accident because he was afraid that he would be beaten up by angry bystanders.
Roldan, 57, an FX taxi driver, was crossing the road from the Metropolitan Theater at around 8 a.m. on Wednesday when the bus, which was on its way to Taft Avenue, hit him.
The bus then slammed into the back of a passenger jeepney, creating a domino effect in which four other vehicles were involved.
Roldan was killed on the spot while 15 people sustained injuries and were taken to different hospitals for treatment.
Macaraeg said they were also looking for the bus conductor who fled after the accident.
Meanwhile, two people were injured in a multiple collision involving a trailer truck and three passenger jeepneys in Pasig City Thursday morning.
Diosdado Bolo, the duty traffic enforcer, identified the victims as Luisa Martinez and Rowell Fernandez.
Martinez and Fernandez were in a passenger jeepney plying the Taytay-Pasig Palengke route when it was bumped by another jeepney at the corner of C-5 and Ortigas Avenue at around 6 a.m.
Martinez was rushed to Rizal Medical Center for treatment while Fernandez was taken to Pasig General Hospital.
The driver of the second jeepney, Rommel Adriano, told the police that he failed to stop his vehicle in time because his brakes failed.
Due to the strong impact, the jeepney in which the victims were riding crashed into another passenger jeepney ahead of it.
The third jeepney, on the other hand, slammed into a trailer truck in front of it.
The accident snarled traffic in the area for about an hour before the vehicles involved in the multiple collision were all towed away.
Bolo said that the case had been turned over to the traffic division of the Eastern Police District.—With Kristine Felisse Mangunay