7 News Belize

Traffic Tragedy On The Roundabout
posted (April 30, 2012)
Over the years, Belize City's drivers have become accustomed to the rules of roundabouts - and we rarely hear of accidents on the eight that are within city limits.

But while drivers have can handle them, add bicycles into the mix and it becomes a kind of controlled chaos.

And on Saturday afternoon that chaos is what pulled 25 year Rafael Torres under the wheels of a tandem trailer and crushed him.

Monica Bodden found out what happened:..

Monica Bodden reporting
The incident happened here at the Western Highway Roundabout - just after 3 on Saturday afternoon.

25 year old Rafael Torres lay dead on the street - alongside his body was his extensively damaged beach cruiser bicycle.

Torres died on the spot after his head was run over by an 18 wheeler truck - driven at the time by 49 year old Alberto Morey.

David Torres - Brother of Deceased
"I heard the news and when I reached home from work my mom was on the verandah and she told me that my brother got into an accident. I went to the hospital; when I got there the nurse ask me if I wanted to identify the body. That was how it became known that he was knocked down."

"They took me in the morgue and there I found out that it was my little brother. I didn't know anything. The police or no one came to inform us about anything. According to the doctor the police had left his body there as John Doe."

Monica Bodden
"Who told your mom about it?"

David Torres - Brother of Deceased
"We heard about it. They say it was a Spanish boy and the way how they describe his shirt - I know because he was wearing my shirt - a 50 cent shirt. From there I went to the hospital morgue where I saw his body."

Monica Bodden
"So no one came to inform your family?"

David Torres - Brother of Deceased
"Not even the police. The doctor says that they left him there as John Doe. The police didn't inform us about anything."

Torres received severe head injuries and died on the spot.

David Torres - Brother of Deceased
"When I saw him at the morgue his whole head had blood. They covered his head due to the impact - the truck ran over his head. All I see is a big cut across his head. The doctor says it's because of the impact of the truck."

According to police Torres was riding his bicycle on the right side of Central American Boulevard and when he reached the intersection of the round-a-bout, he made an attempt to pass on the right side of truck.

According to the truck driver, he was already on the roundabout where the handle of the bicycle made contact with the right rear lower side of the trailer - which caused Torres to lose control and fall to the ground - where the wheel of the trailer ran over his head.

David Torres - Brother of Deceased
"For we know that they say that he was coming from work and he was on the side of the round-about and the truck swerve and knock his bicycle handle along with another person that was there. It was two of them that got hit."

"My brother drop inside of the truck's path and the other person drop out and so he didn't get any hurt. The driver swerves in like he was going towards the Western Highway but instead he went to Port direction."

And that wasn't the weekend's only traffic fatality. The other occurred at around the same time in the Toledo district.

33 year old Aaron Coleman, was driving a Ford Ranger pickup on the Southern Highway and when he got to Tambran Village between miles 66 and 67, he saw 10 year old Rufino Xi riding in the opposite direction. Coleman says the child came into his path and he could not avoid hitting him. The child sustained injuries to his head and was dead on arrival when he got to the Punta Gorda Hospital.

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