Driver may lose leg; LTO probes accident
THE driver of the dump truck that killed two and injured five, including himself, during an accident in Barangay Cantabaco, Toledo City might not be able to drive again.
Investigators said Johnrey Sarita, 29, will have his right leg amputated after it was ran over by his own truck during last Tuesday’s incident in Sitio Apid Acro, Barangay Cantabaco.
Sarita is currently recuperating at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
SPO2 Thule Tajanlangit of the Lutopan Police Station said Sarita might be filing several criminal charges if the family of the victims proceeds with the filing of a complaint against him.
At around noontime last Tuesday, Sarita was driving a Fuzo dump truck loaded with sand and gravel when he suddenly lost control of the vehicle upon passing Barangay Cantabaco.
To save himself, Sarita jumped off the truck but his right leg was ran over by the vehicle.
The driver-less truck also crashed into the house and store of Raymunda Largo, killing Largo’s granddaughter Meazy Chila Alisoso, 19, and her four-year-old great grandson, James Kyle Selgas.
Largo and three other relatives, including Alisoso’s two-year-old daughter, Alisha Keith, survived the crash but were hurt.
Tajanlangit said representatives of the dump truck owner went to their office yesterday to express willingness to assist the victims, including paying for the burial and hospital expenses.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) yesterday said the accident was not because of poor infrastructure, but on vehicle defect and human error.
Assistant District Engineer Rey Navales, of the DPWH’s 3rd district engineering office (DEO), said the road has been widened and paved and warning signs—pavement markings, guard fence and suggested speed limit—have been placed in strategic areas of the road.
“The issues raised as a result of the accident should not be directed at DPWH because we have done our part to promote road safety”, Navales said.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7, for its part, has ordered an investigation on the accident and a review on the last result of the vehicle inspection when the registration of the dump truck was renewed.
“I want to know if it’s true that the vehicle lost its brakes, what its speed was when the accident happened, and why the driver jumped from the vehicle?,” said LTO 7 Director Arnel Tancinco.
Tancinco said that technically, after an accident, the driver will be fined, regardless of whether he is at fault or not.
He said that in case of deaths or injuries as the result of the accident, the driver’s license can be suspended from 90 to 180 days.
If a case is for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide is filed in court, the court may order the revocation of the license of an erring driver if he is found guilty, Tancinco said.