One Dead, Three Injured in Southern Highway Car Collision

A tragic accident on the Hummingbird Highway Monday night claimed the life of Michael Daniels, a twenty-six-year-old bartender and father of two young boys, ages six and four. Two of his friends, Benjamin Guerra and Caleb Umul were also injured in the crash. Daniels and his friends had just finished football practice in Saint Margaret’s Village and were heading home to Valley Community in his silver Mitsubishi. Employed at Caves Branch Resort, Daniels lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a culvert, suffering severe head and upper body injuries that led to his death at the scene. He and his wife, Paulina Daniels, were set to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary on Friday. Michael had a notable achievement in 2013, placing second in the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge intramural category with his brothers. His older brother, Kenrick, shared that the last time he saw Michael was about a month ago when Michael was planning a family reunion.

 

On the Phone: Kenrick Daniels, Brother of Deceased

“He wanted to do a family reunion, football game, and this was his idea to do that, our family reunion football game down in our village – Valley Community. It was me, him and my uncle and my dad that was talking about it. That was his intention to also bring the family closer together and speaking with my mom this morning My mother said that for the past week or two weeks, Michael had just been bringing her flowers from work and bringing her all different kinds of flowers. And then my mom told him that when she dies, he doesn’t need to bring any flowers because he already brought enough for her right now. And then my mom said not knowing that he was bringing them now because he wasn’t going to be there when my mom died. So, it was something sad when I heard my mom say that this morning.”