Attorney’s SUV Collides With Crowded Bus; No Injuries Reported

An SUV traveling to Belize City collided into a bus loaded with passengers on Wednesday evening. The accident caused a disruption in the flow of traffic for hours on the highway in the height of the rush hour, but fortunately persons in both vehicles were generally unhurt.  Stacy Martinez lost control of her Ford Expedition and ended in front of the passenger bus driven by Hansel Talbert. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Traffic was backed up for quite some time, most say at least three hours, on Wednesday evening following a road traffic accident between miles twenty and twenty-one on the George Price Highway. A Ford Expedition SUV traveling towards Belize City collided with a passenger bus, belonging to West Line, heading to Benque Viejo Del Carmen. The impact sent the SUV, driven at the time by Attorney Stacy Martinez, off the pavement before coming to a complete stop with its front left wheel ripped off and smack in the middle of the highway.

Hansel Talbert

Hansel Talbert, Bus Driver

“She haul the curve and when she haul the curve, she ran off the road. She lose control and run off the road and when she run off of the road, she try come back on right away and when she try come back on the road, she lose control and ih gone straight ina di bus, knock the front wheel. Knock the front wheel, she slide on the side, knock the back wheel, knock off the tire and ih bruk fi wi front spring. The front spring bruk and we lose control; we couldn’t do anything, the steering lock on one side and so we run off on the road here.”

Talbert, a career bus driver, has been driving for thirty-five years and says that passengers braced themselves as the bus careened off the side of the road having lost two of its wheels. Aside from the conductor who complained of pain to her wrist, the passengers were generally unhurt.

Hansel Talbert

“We asked if anybody get hurt and nobody get hurt and we started to take them out. And the vehicles start to stop and I gone check…I walk down so to see the girl, but I see the person di walk and I never believe dah she because ih look like nothing wrong with she. Only the conductor get hurt; she fractured ih wrist. Only one passenger claim ih mi get wah lee jerk ina ih back, but no pain. Don’t know about right now.”

Ian Geban

Cpl. Ian Geban, Investigator, Hattieville Police

“Police received information of an accident between twenty and twenty-one on the George Price Highway. Police officers responded to the scene where we observed a grey Ford Expedition vehicle in the center of the road, extensively damage. About a quarter mile away also on the left side of the road, on the shoulder, we observed a west line bus extensively damaged to the left front portion. No one was hurt seriously in this accident. The scene was processed and the matter is now under investigation.”

According to Talbert, this is the second time that such an incident has occurred with him in all his years of driving.

Hansel Talbert

“It coudla mi worse because if I was a minute more behind time, she would have run into the front of the bus. Because ih barely clear the bus because ih knock the front wheel. If I was a minute behind time, ina di front ih mi wah reach. And then like when she knock me and I slide there, if any vehicle mi di come, any truck mi di come behind she, dah definitely sure ih mi wah run into we because I come off the road.”

Duane Moody for News Five.