Van kills 10-year-old boy inside Ateneo campus

[XTO]

he was the son of my former co-employee

02/24/2009 | 10:11 PM
MANILA, Philippines - A 10-year-old boy died Tuesday afternoon after a van accidentally hit him inside the Ateneo de Manila University campus in Quezon city, police said.

In a phone interview, Senior Police Officer II Jun Cuaresma identified the victim as Julian Carlo Miguel Alcantara, a student of the university.

Cuaresma said the victim was walking alongside his nanny, Tata Suarez, 65, when the van driven by one Ma. Theresa Torres, 37, accidentally struck them at about 4:20 p.m.

Cuaresma said based on Torres’ initial accounts, she accidentally hit Alcantara when she followed the car parked in front of her. She reportedly said she was waiting for her child and was parked in parallel near the main gate of the university.

Alcantara was pronounced dead on arrival at New Era Hospital while his nanny sustained several fractures.

Cuaresma said a ‘hysterical’ Torres was brought to the District Traffic Unit Section 3 after the incident. The Alcantaras, meanwhile, declined to give their comments. - Aie Balagtas See, GMANews.TV

As CPRs we have a responsibility to voice out and make the admin listen this time re daily traffic and parking problem. We have made it an issue since the beginning of the year but on deaf ears! Now, the death of Amiel Alcantara of 4 Manobo and now the MMDA is in on it. The admin MUST DO SOMETHING already! My sons are so scared na to be alone now. We saw the blood on the the ground as Amiel was taken away to the hospital and the 5 wrecked cars and the footlong hotdog on top of the blood. We saw him buy it before the accident. The mom who took the wheel after asking her driver to fetch her son accidentally hit the gas and crushed Amiel as he was passing by. 4 cars in front of her were wrecked! She fainted after and taken away in a stretcher. I am so emotional because it could have been anyone of us! Amiel has a gr 7 brother. Please pray for them. Thanks.

http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/02/2...iel-alcantara/

http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/02/2...what-happened/

[ab_initio]

one odd accident...tsk! if only...

[uls]

++++++++++++++++++

[Memphis Raines]

This is truly tragic news. R.I.P to he victim. My heart goes out to the parents.

Freak acident.
.

[_Qwerty_]

mukhang naka park parallel waiting.. pinababa yung driver at sya ang umupo.. kaso imbes na brake ang tapakan.. gas ang nadiinan.. so yun.. umarangkada.. hitting the boy crossing the street and 5 other cars.. grabe siguro ang pagkaka diin sa gas.. hmmm bakit kasi hindi naka hand brake?

[ghosthunter]

Ateneo campus is notorious for it's lack of enough parking spaces. So vehicles without parking are forced to drive around the campus as they wait for the kids.

The accident may be weird as usually the parent or yaya goes down and the driver is left to ... well... drive the vehicle around and around the campus.

The question is (as heartless it may sound), why was the kid and yaya walking on the driveway? There are marked pedestrian paths around so why are people so hard headed in walking on the areas where cars are driving past?

[coiter]

really freaky and saddening. and to think may kasama nang matanda yung bata sa pagtawid. i get disturbed talaga whenever i hear news similar to this.

[pup2]

Palagay ko kahit walang traffic at parking problem the accident would've happened. Hindi man lang kasi naka P or naka handbrake eh.

Seriously, just because it's AT doesn't mean anyone can drive it without a good technique.

[Taurus]

Palagay ko kahit walang traffic at parking problem the accident would've happened. Hindi man lang kasi naka P or naka handbrake eh.

Seriously, just because it's AT doesn't mean anyone can drive it without a good technique.

how a cellphone contributed to the death of Amiel Alcantara



these are eye-witness accounts:
the ateneo mom involved in this tragic accident was driving a Toyota Hi-Ace, these huge vans we see on the road. having asked her driver to get her own son, she was seated on the driver side, buckled up.
eyewitnesses saw her texting with her cellphone. then people saw her unbuckle her seat belt and she stooped down to get something on the floor of the van, presumably she dropped her cellphone and bent down to get it from the floor. it is in that position that led her to mistakenly step on the gas accelerator rather than the brakes.
the van she was driving pinned down Amiel on the back of a CRV. Amiel furiously hit on the front of the van with his fists in a vain attempt to call the attention of the driver of the van that was pinning him to the back of the CRV.
this story makes a lot of sense as stooping down like that will make it easy for anyone to mistake the gas accelerator for the brakes. it looked like the hi-ace van has an automatic transmission. that way, your body gets disoriented as to what pedal is on the left and what is on the right.
the van must have been engaged on “drive” and she was stepping on the brakes. when she stooped down to get something on the floor, her foot must have been removed from the brakes. and to recover, she must have quickly stepped on a pedal thinking it was still the brakes but was actually the accelerator.
let us hope that ateneo learns something from this and most specially people who drive cars/vehicles to pick up children from school

Stooping down, then probably she may have incidentally transferred the gear to Drive and when it suddenly moved she may have stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.

[Monseratto]

RIP...

Is the school liable for the death?

[yebo]

my take is...

sabi e she was following the car in front, so she was not parked. her van was moving following the car in front. they might have stopped for a moment, then tumawid yung bata saka yaya in front of the van, and she probably was in the middle of taking her foot off the brake pedal and moving forward and her intention was to brake again seeing the yaya and the kid. but instead of stepping on the brake she accidentaly stepped on the gas instead. kaya madiin ang apak nya kasi her intention was to step on the brake fast.

ang unang mali nya, e bakit yung driver ang pinababa nya to fetch her kid at di siya sana ang bumaba. ayaw mainitan? tamad? ayan nakapatay tuloy.

[RedHorse]

liable na ang driver nito... above 7 yrs old na ang victim

[ab_initio]

liable na ang driver nito... above 7 yrs old na ang victim

may i know why, Sir? thanks.

[russpogi]

Accident at Ateneo again? damn..... Kawawa naman yung bata...

[s_quilicot]

Stooping down, then probably she may have incidentally transferred the gear to Drive and when it suddenly moved she may have stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.

if this an AT only the Super Grandia Hiace ang pwedeng maging variant unless jdm.

grabe. RIP.

[claRkEnt]

definitely, tama yung theory that the accelerator had been stepped on very hard (mistaken it for the brake). The impact on the boy and five other vehicles proved it.

Poor boy and poor parents!.. RIP.

[n1kn0k]

puñ%#*! bat ngayon ko lang nalaman to?! kailangan ko na ulit magbasa ng dyaryo o manood ng tv. on the other hand, how come ADMU never released an official statement?

i have a grade 1 son there, and now i'm greatly worried, lalo na school bus lang sya.

i know this isn't the proper venue, but if an ADMU official is reading this, please issue an official statement. (i will make this request official through my CPR.) sa taas ng tuition na binabayaran namin, the least that we expect from ADMU representatives is to inform parents about matters as important as this one. heck, it's not even in ADMU's website! i guess it's high time you think of safer ways of dismissing the boys.

my condolences to the parents and relatives of the little boy. may he rest in peace.

[n1kn0k]

btw, just out of curiosity, where did this unfortunate accident exactly happen?

[CVT]

if this an AT only the Super Grandia Hiace ang pwedeng maging variant unless jdm.

grabe. RIP.

Agree. We have to be very careful as accidents are just a (small) mistake away..... RIP....

7505:bravo:

[XTO]

nakapagtataka, wala sa mga major news channels ito when happened. nauna pa sa blogs, even GMA 7 has no related news

(UPDATE) Ateneo pupil dies after being pinned by cars

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/25/2009 3:16 PM

A pupil of Ateneo de Manila Grade School (AGS) died Tuesday after being pinned in between two vehicles inside the school campus.

Amiel Alcantara, 10, a Grade 4 pupil at the school, was on his way to their family vehicle along with siblings Jana and Javier, nanny Tata Suarez, their driver Khan Nyugen Alcasabas and a friend of Javier around 3:45 p.m. when a Toyota Hi-Ace van suddenly lurched towards a Honda CRV and another vehicle.

Alcantara was found underneath the two vehicles. He was hurriedly pulled out and rushed to New Era Hospital by another parent, Alcasabas, and Maria Teresa Torres, the driver of the van.

Alcantara died at the hospital at around 5 p.m. after suffering from head injuries.

Suarez meanwhile suffered fractures in her shins and ankles and was taken to the school infirmary for treatment.

The Alcantaras formally filed a complaint against Torres, a parent of a fellow Grade 4 pupil, who was also waiting for her child at the time of the incident.

Prior to the incident, Torres' driver alighted from their van, after which she took over the wheel to drive it forwards. An official statement from Ateneo de Manila University said that according to her however, the van "accelerated uncontrollably" and hit the victims and the cars.

The Torres family declined to be interviewed.

The school administration meanwhile assured that there will be a "proper and thorough" investigation of the matter.

"The Ateneo assures the community that a proper and thorough investigation of the incident has been launched, and that counseling assistance is being provided to the affected families and students," the statement said.

"Amiel, son of [Jose] ‘Pepe’ Alcantara, was a valiant and responsible Boy Scout and a friend to many students," the statement said.

"Masses and prayers are also being offered all over campus for the repose of the soul of Amiel, whose remains lie in state at the Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angels at the Ateneo Grade School. As a final tribute to Amiel, the AGS Boy Scouts will forego their scheduled pass in review tomorrow and instead hold a mass for their fellow scout," the statement added. With a report from Ryan Chua, ABS-CBN News

as of 02/25/2009 11:23 PM