Van kills 10-year-old boy inside Ateneo campus

**XTO** · February 25th, 2009 02:28 PM

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** · February 25th, 2009 02:38 PM

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

**uls** · February 25th, 2009 03:10 PM

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

**Memphis Raines** · February 25th, 2009 03:16 PM

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

Freak acident.
.

**_Qwerty_** · February 25th, 2009 03:23 PM

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** · February 25th, 2009 05:07 PM

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** · February 25th, 2009 05:09 PM

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** · February 25th, 2009 05:17 PM

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** · February 25th, 2009 07:55 PM

Originally Posted by 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.

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.