ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

Alcohol culprit of tragedy

Relatives painted blue hearts in memory of the victims

IRMA RODRIGUEZ REYES
irrodriguez@laetrella.com.pa

PANAMA. On the night of Thursday August 13, a dump truck hit head on a passenger bus in Las Garzas, Pacora, killing 23 people. Carlos Ivan Huertas, the dump truck driver was blind drunk and was also killed bringing the death total to 24.

Assistant district attorney Luis Martinez presented the results of a toxicology test done on Huertas? body to reveal that his blood alcohol level was 148.5 micrograms/ deciliter.

According to the current Transit Code, a driver with an 86 microgram/deciliter level would be classified as “verified intoxication” and the car would be towed.

Doctors say the levels of drunkenness Huertas had did would not have required testing because such high levels of alcohol would have made him lose balance, have difficulty in speaking, be unable to relate to distances and completely too impaired to drive.

Martinez said there is still more information to be researched and declarations from the survivors to be taken, so at this time no one can be accused of the accident.

The authorities have not given information on the fact that Huertas was stopped at a police road block earlier that night and the alcohol test came out clean.

The driver of the Nativa SUV also involved in the crash was scheduled to give his version of the events yesterday.

Huertas had previously, accumulated 18 transit tickets including infractions from passing a red light, drunk driving, bad parking and running over a pedestrian.

Publicidad