President Luis Abinader visited on Thursday, 10 February 2022 with the family of three children that were impacted on 27 January by a driver on the run in San Pedro de Macoris. Only one of the three children survived the crash. The children, 5-year old Carlos Jose Nova and 7 year old Yeremi Jusue Novel were on their way home from baseball practice. A video captured the vehicle and how the passenger switched to the driver’s seat and left the accident scene without assisting the children.
During the visit, the President went on record saying: “We are here to give our moral support and tell you we have given instructions for a special unit to carry out investigations that are very advanced.” The family had protested the delays in the Police detaining the two suspects. The details of the vehicle were known by the Police, and the vehicle itself was found abandoned.
The Special Court of Transit of San Pedro de Macoris had issued an arrest and search warrant for Andres Julio Cespedes. Cespedes would turn himself in to the San Pedro de Macoris public prosecutors office on Thursday, 11 February after the President’s visit to the family was known.
An editorial in Diario Libre expresses concern the President has to personally take action to get the Police to act. “The distrust of the people in the institutions of law and order is capital and little progress has been made in this regard in this new administration. It is necessary to accelerate police reform and restore confidence in the police,” writes the editorial.
The family protested that only one person of the two in the vehicle has turned himself in. The family insisted the investigation continue. The person in the passenger seat has not been identified by the Police nor prosecution authorities.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
14 February 2022