Talisay hit-and-run case caught on video; 1 killed

A screen grab of a Youtube video of this June 15 road accident shows the point of impact, where 16 year old Irvin Jay Cantiveros is hit by the car hood ans is tipped in the air. The youth died of severe injuries in the head and body.

‘Sleepy’ call center agent  hits 4 students after his night shift

A criminal charge was filed yesterday against a call center agent in a hit-and-run accident in Talisay City at dawn that resulted in the death of a teenage student and injuries to three others.

The incident, which took place about 3 a.m. of Monday, was caught on video with the closed circuit TV camera (CCTV) of a department store across the site in Lawaan 3, Talisay.

Emmanuel Sanchez, 31, told police later that he was sleepy at the time and didn’t notice the four young men on the road.  He reportedly just came off from his night shift in a business process outsourcing company in Cebu City.

A driver of a habal-habal (motorycle-for-hire) chased the car and apprehended the employee. Sanchez was  brought to  the office of Talisay Mayor JV Reyes  later in the morning.

A charge of reckless imprudence leading to homicide was filed against Sanchez.

The four young men had just come from a fiesta celebration and were walking home at dawn.

The fatality was identified as 16-year-old Irvin Jay Cantiveros.

In the video, Cantiveros  was seen playfully running ahead of his friends on the road and turning his head back briefly to look at them with the oncoming car hit him.

The impact of the car, moving at high speed, sent him flipping backwards in the air and landing on the road.

Jack Villamor Lastimado, 20, ended up with both legs broken, and injuries to the head.

His aunt, Narcisa L. Kong, told Cebu Daily News the young man was traumatized over the death of his friend and has decided not to return to classes for the whole semester.

“He will withdraw from college for now so we could use the money for  medical  checkups and medication that he needs,” said Kong.

She said it was a big loss for him to drop out of college since he only had one year to go to graduate.

The two other victims, John Raven Mascariñas, 18, and Rodney Gregorio, 17, also suffered injuries in the legs, head and other parts of the body.

All four victims were brought to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) where Cantiveros was declared dead.

It was supposed to be their first day of class last Monday.

The four were heading home at dawn from a fiesta celebration in barangay Pook.

The CCTV footage was released by the management of Robinson’s Department Store in Lawaan in aid of the police investigation.

PO1 Carlos Dicdican of the Talisay City Police Traffic Division said Sanchez kept on driving after the accident until he was stopped by a habal-habal driver who saw the incident and followed him.

Almost a minute of video footage was posted on YouTube last Tuesday by a relative of the student who was killed.  It was later removed but a similar video was uploaded by Cebu Alliance Echannel on June 18.

After the habal-habal driver brought Sanchez to the mayor’s office in the morning, City Hall staff informed the police that Sanchez had “surrendered”.  Police said the driver did not resist the citizen’s arrest.

The three survivors underwent X-ray and CT Scans yesterday at VSMMC to complete a medico-legal report to support a separate criminal complaint for reckless imprudence resulting in physical injuries.

The call center agent was still detained at the Talisay City Police Office yesterday.