Drunk man dies after falling off bus in Parañaque; driver at large

A drunk man died after hitting his head on the concrete center island of a road in Parañaque early on Sunday. Investigators said the man lost his balance as the bus he was riding on sped away as he was about to get off it.

Bystanders found the body of Ramil Legaspi, 42, in front of a popular lechon shop a block away from the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran on Roxas Boulevard, at 2 a.m. Sunday.

His body was taken to the Peoples Funeral Service in Las Piñas for autopsy, according to Senior Insp. Jerry Sunga, chief investigator of the Parañaque City Police Station.

Quoting Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco), Sunga said Legaspi rode a bus from a party in Cavite bound for Baclaran, where he would ride another bus to his house at 212 San Andres Street in Navotas.

Bystanders and parking attendants told Soco they saw Legaspi about to get off the bus when it sped off toward Manila.

Nobody was able to get the plate number of the bus.

According to Sunga, Legaspi’s friends from Cavite confirmed he came from a party and even urged him stay for awhile as he was “too drunk to commute home.”

“We are veering away from reports that he was thrown off from the speeding bus,” Sunga said, noting that investigators found no other external injuries on Legaspi and that all of his belongings were intact.

A bus ticket which Legaspi paid for on Feb. 3 pointed to a Cavite Batangas Transport Service Cooperative based in Alfonso, Cavite.

“The driver or the conductor should ensure that passengers should have safely boarded off the bus before moving again,” Sunga said. “The problem is drivers speed off immediately after unloading to get more passengers, especially during wee hours.”

Police are now on the hunt for the driver of the bus who would be facing charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

/atm