Police have detained and charged a 27-year-old man in relation to a fatal road traffic accident which on Thursday, April 9 in Santa Familia, Cayo. It took place at around 4:15 p.m. when 11-year-old Keiana Cruz and her 5-year-old brother Jahir Cruz were walking home from their aunt’s home in the Village. They were sent to their aunt’s since no one would be at home during the day to watch them. But before they could make it back home, they were knocked down and Keiana was killed in the process, just around the lane from her home.
Police responded to the scene on the village road where they met Keiana’s lifeless body laying in the middle of the road. Not too far away, they saw a white Chevy pickup which had crashed into a lamppost. The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Saudy Landero, was travelling in the opposite direction when he hit the children. While Keiana sadly succumbed to massive head and body injuries and was pronounced dead at the San Ignacio Hospital, Jahir sustained a broken foot and internal bleeding for which he remains hospitalized.
Villagers are understandably both irate and saddened at this occurrence, especially considering that Landero was reportedly speeding. When he first hit the children, he did not stop and dragged Keiana some 40 feet from where he initially knocked them down. He has since been charged with manslaughter by negligence and failing to provide a specimen.
