Police cordons the area where the SUV, Ford Everest, with a motorcycle stuck under it, at a condominium parking lot in Barangay Guadalupe. Police arrested the driver of the vehicle, who was a hit-and-run suspect. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The hit and run driver, who literally dragged a motorcycle stuck under his Ford Everest from Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City to his home about 2 kilometers away in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, was arrested seven hours after the incident.
Police Major Nolan Tagsip, Abellana Police Station chief, said that the driver of the Ford Everest, Mel Carlo Villanueva, was trying to flee from a taxi driver, whom he bumped from behind along F. Sotto Drive in General Maxilom Avenue in Cebu City at past 2 a.m. this morning, April 7, when he slammed into a motorcycle driven by a female rider, along Fuente Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City.
Jeffrey Rosales, 31, a taxi driver, was chasing Villanueva then, who was driving the Ford Everest that bumped into Rosales’ taxi from behind. Rosales chased the SUV that Villanueva was driving after it sped off as Rosales got off his taxi to confront the SUV driver.
When the SUV reached Fuente Osmeña, Villanueva’s Ford Everest crashed into a motorcycle, who was not moving at that time as the female driver was waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
The impact threw the female driver from the motorcycle into the pavement while the motorcycle got stuck under the Ford Everest. The SUV driver did not stop to to check on the victim, and continued to flee the area despite the motorcycle stuck under his SUV, which he dragged from Fuente Osmeña Boulevard to the condominium parking lot where he lived in Barangay Guadalupe, about 2 kilometers away from the area where he collided with the motorcycle.
The taxi driver continued to chase the fleeing the Ford Everest with a motorcycle stuck under it — all the way to Barangay Guadalupe.
However, the taxi driver then stopped at the Guadalupe Police Station to seek help.
At about the same time in Fuente Osmeña Boulevard, emergency responders took care of the female driver and brought her to the Cebu City Medical Center for treatment of her injuries.
Tagsip identified the female motorcycle driver as Marne Capareda, 24, a resident of Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
He also said that Capareda only suffered minor injuries in the collision.
At about the same time, Abellana police, who has jurisdiction over Fuente Osmena Boulevard, immediately conducted a hot pursuit operation, and they were able to locate the Ford Everest abandoned in the condominium’s parking lot. Capareda’s motorcycle was still stuck under it.
A witness, then, positively identified the suspect, Villanueva, as the person, who got off the SUV.
Tagsip said that it took them several hours to find Villanueva because they did not know which condominium unit he was staying.
“Unfortunately daghan man gud mga rooms ngadto, so wala nato ma locate iyang room. Nigawas siya [on Thursday morning] so I believe he has no intention nga magtago,” Tagsip said.
(Unfortunately, the condominium had many rooms and we can’t locate which unit the suspect was staying. The suspect went out [on Thursday morning] so I believe that he has no intention to hide.)
Tagsip said that Villanueva was arrested as he came out the condominium, and since his arrest, he refused to issue any statement.
Tagsip also said that they would check if the suspect was driving under the influence of liquor at that time of the hit-and-run incidents.
Whether the suspect would settle with his victims or not, Tagsip said that they would still make an investigation report addressed to the Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7) and recommend revoking Villanueva’s driver’s license.
Tagsip also said that the taxi driver had already expressed his willingness to settle with the suspect and as for the female motorcycle driver, she had yet to decide if she would settle or not with the hit and run driver.
For his part, Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office, said that should they have show proof that the suspect had the intention to hit the victims, then that would fall as a homicide case.
Parilla, however, said that the incident was still subject for further investigation.
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