AN OFFICIAL from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) clarified previous reports regarding the involvement of a sports utility vehicle (SUV) in the incident where 23-year-old Jeslar Uriel Larumbe was struck.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, deputy city director for operations at the CCPO, said the vehicle involved in the incident, equipped with sirens and blinkers, was driven by a civilian and was not part of any VIP convoy.
Rafter assured the family and relatives of the hit-and-run victim that they are doing everything they can to bring justice to the death of Larumbe on Sunday morning, February 4, 2024, near the Redemptorist church along Queensroad in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City.
The Cebu City Police Office, through Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, sent condolences to the Larumbe family.
The victim's mother urged the police to solve the death of her son as soon as possible.
Rafter explained that their investigators continued to track the CCTV cameras in their effort to identify the SUV driver who allegedly struck the victim intentionally.
"We assure the family nga tanan gyud mi ang atung City Director Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog naningkamot, nangulo gyud nga masulbad gyud kining kasoha. Although we cannot say nga as soon as possible but we are assuring the family ug ang atung katawhan nga sulbaron ni namo," Rafter said.
(We assured the family that all of us—including City Director Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog—are working hard to solve this case. We assured the family and the public that we will be able to solve this, although we are unable to do it immediately.)
Rafter stated that prior to the incident, they already had some indication as to the victim's origins.
Because some motorists claimed to have witnessed Larumbe's motorcycle and the SUV race one another from Ayala before they got at Queensroad, she assigned the Mabolo Police Station the responsibility of searching the CCTV cameras under their jurisdiction for any footage of the victim.
Rafter also tasked the Abellana Police Station 2 to obtain copies of the CCTV footage that was captured along Queensroad, which falls under its jurisdiction.
The Regional Chief of Highway Patrol Group (HPG 7), Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, disclosed that he had instructed his men to collaborate with the Abellana Police Station in obtaining copies of CCTV video clips as part of their investigation.
“I instructed my investigators to work in tandem with station 2 as they possess CCTV footage. Someone provided us with information, and we have verified and pursued the possibility that this was the car with the same license plate,” Parilla said in Cebuano. (With TPT)
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