photo: Skyway O&M Corp.
The Quezon City Prosecutors Office has ordered the release of the driver of a Toyota Innova which figured in a fatal head-on collision with a motorcycle at the Skyway Stage 3 in Balintawak on Sunday morning, an official of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Wednesday, March 12.
But why was the driver of Toyota Innova detained and charged when the viral video showed that the motorcycle rider appeared to be at fault?
Police Capt. Jun Cornelio Estrellan, head of the PNP-Highway Patrol Group South Luzon Expressway Sub Office, explained that the police are strictly following processes, especially in incidents that would result in death.
In the case of the viral video which showed that the motorcycle rider was running fast, without helmet and travelling on the wrong side of the road, Estrellan said that the filing of the case against the driver is part of the protocol when the rider died.
“Since there was death in this case, the police will automatically file the case with all the documents and leave the prosecutor to decide what is right on the incident,” said Estrellan in an interview over Radyo Pilipinas.
And in so far as the driver Toyota Innova is concerned, Estrellan said the QC Prosecutor’s Office said that he has no liability over the incident.
But the official said the decision of the family of the motorcycle rider not to pursue the case helped a lot in the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office that paved the way for the release of the driver from jail.
“It was the brother of the motorcycle rider who represented the family who executed an affidavit of desistance. It was one of the reasons why the Innova driver was exonerated,” said Estrellan.
On the part of the Skyway enforcers, Estrellan explained that they were not able to immediately prevent the entry of the motorcycle since it was running so fast and it was travelling on the opposite side of the road.
The allowed motorcycles in expressways are those with 400cc displacement and the motorcycle in the case of the incident, it has a lower displacement, thus, not allowed at the Skyway.