On Saturday morning the perils of random bus stops and early morning partying were brought into sharp, tragic focus when a 23 year old lost his life in a massive rear end collision.
At around 5:30 am before sunrise, Patrick Escalante, Jr was travelling in his Nissan Pathfinder just a half mile from his home at mile 4 on the Western Highway when he crashed into a Westline Bus - which was parked on the edge of the road, but not off the road. No one in the bus was hurt, but Escalante suffered major trauma.
The police explain that they arrived at the scene and found his body on the ground:
Raphael Martinez - Police Press Officer
"This happened at approximately 5:30 in the morning. Police visited the scene on the George Highway between miles 4 and 5. Upon arrival, they saw a Green and White International Bus L/P# SI-D-00235 on the extreme right side of the highway. It was parked facing Belmopan. The bus received extensive damages to its entire rear portion, and also seen was a Grey Nissan Pathfinder SUV L/P# BZ-C-32315 directly behind the bus facing the same direction. It had extensive damage to the front portion. On the scene, police also saw a person who appears to be of Hispanic descent lying face up on the extreme right shoulder of the highway. Initial investigation reveals that the bus driven by Godfrey Bowen Dougal, 45 years-old. It was heading to Belmopan and upon reaching in front of Bravo Motors started to pull to the right side of the road when the SUV, driven by 23 year old Patrick Escalante, collided into the rear of the bus. It is also reported that Passengers from the bus took out Escalante from out of the SUV and laid him on the ground. He was subsequently transported to KHMH where he was pronounced dead at 7:14 a.m. Since then, samples have been obtained from Dougal, a caution statement taken, NIP served to him as well."
Escalante's family stresses that the bus was on the road.
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