Patrol car crash: More may face raps

MANILA, Philippines — More people could face charges in connection with the patrol car accident that left five detainees dead in Barangay Payatas, Quezon City last week, according to the Philippine National Police.

PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. has ordered the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management to look into the incident.

To avoid speculations, Nartatez said investigators should wait for the result of a third party inspection by Toyota, the patrol vehicle’s manufacturer.

PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuano said the liability might not stop with the vehicle’s driver, a patrolman, who was charged with reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide, multiple physical injuries and damage to property.

“We are looking into the possible lapses of the PNP, not only the QCPD (Quezon City Police District),” Nartatez said at a press briefing at Camp Crame.

The detainees died from severe blunt trauma. Five others, another inmate and four police officers, were injured.

Lt. Col.  Josef Geofrey Lyndon Lim, who heads the QCPD’s traffic enforcement unit, said the seven-year-old police vehicle was undergoing monthly roadworthiness inspections prior to the fatal crash.

Lim said the driver lost control of the vehicle while traversing Payatas Road.

Addressing speculations that the vehicular crash was intentional, Lim said two police officers sustained severe injuries, one suffered broken ribs and the other still undergoing treatment for bleeding in the kidneys.

The driver continues to have chest pains and will undergo a computed tomography scan, police said.