BY SHIELA G. GELERA
The driver of the truck involved in a road mishap that claimed the lives of three persons on board a Ford Mustang at the Circumferential Road in Barangay Vista Alegre, Bacolod City, early Tuesday, was released that night after the 18-hour reglementary period had lapsed.
P/Senior Master Sgt. June Garong, traffic investigator of Station 4, said yesterday that Michael Mejica, 42, of Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental, was released and that the owner of the 10-wheeler truck he was driving also pledged to help the victims. Garong said the truck owner whom he did not identify and the kin of the victims have reached a settlement.
The fatalities were earlier identified as Stanley Flores, the driver of the Mustang sports car, and his passengers Welton Porcel, a former cameraman of ABS-CBN Bacolod, and his nephew Mark John Porcel.
Traffic investigation showed the sports car was travelling north of the Circumferential Road when it hit the rear portion of the truck it was trailing and got stuck underneath.
The truck was loaded with sugarcane.
A closed-circuit television camera footage showed that the car was travelling too fast and hit the truck suddenly, the police said.
The car was a total wreck and the three victims died on the spot. The bodies were brought to the Rolling Hills Memorial Chapel.
Flores, who came from his restaurant, was driving the Porcels home when the accident happened.*
